China

In 2010 China overtook Japan as the second largest economy in the world, with its gross national income (GNI) reaching US$3.9 trillion (World Bank). It is predicted that its economy will become the largest in the world by 2030, overtaking that of the United States. In 2009 a conservative estimate of China’s foreign assistance contributions stood at just under US$2 billion while its reported humanitarian aid was just US$4.5 million, rising to US$39.9 million in 2010.

China’s development model focuses on infrastructure development and debt cancellation in exchange for raw materials, respecting national sovereignty and attaching no political conditions (Bräutigam, 2011). On 21 April 2011, China released its first White Paper on Foreign Aid, making a clear commitment to South–South cooperation and emphasising support to recipient countries to strengthen their own development capacity, balanced with strong economic growth.

Quantifying China’s aid flows remains challenging due to the differences in the way that it classifies its aid and the poor quality of its external reporting systems – there is currently no single agency managing or monitoring its development programmes. China’s aid contributions are not defined or disaggregated in line with the official development assistance (ODA) definition used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Overseas aid expenditure is published on an aggregate basis and, as a result, regional and country breakdowns are not available. A report published in September 2011, ‘Transparency of Chinese Aid’, explores some of the challenges above while at the same time highlighting that aid information from China is becoming increasingly available.

In recent years some OECD DAC donors have planned to reduce or cut aid to some BRICS countries. In early 2011 the UK announced that it would end direct aid to 16 countries including China (BBC). In the same year, the EU announced in its Multiannual Financial Framework 2014–2020 that it will end bilateral aid to 17 upper middle-income countries (including China), as well as two lower-income countries whose GDP is larger than 1% of global GDP.