"What is development as practiced by China?" asked Jing Gu, director of the Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development and convener of the Rising Powers in International Development Programme at the Institute of Development Studies. She went on to note that China is having a tremendous global impact, especially on low-income developing countries in Africa and Latin America. It is also playing a larger role in existing and new multilateral initiatives, such as the BRICS New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and so the answer to this question was especially important. "We need to better engage with China on development issues," she said.
Gu noted that China has many "channels of influence" and that they included not just financial flows, but also migration and environmental impacts. Gu said that one of the mistakes many people make when looking at China is that they do not distinguish between national development and foreign aid. "In the Chinese mindset to this day," she said, "national development and foreign aid are two unrelated issues."
Another mistake that outsiders often make when looking at China is that they assume that China's development policy is motivated only by its interest in securing access to natural resources and raw materials. "It is more nuanced than that," she said.
Focusing on Chinese aid to Africa, Gu said that it was different from aid from traditional donors in four ways. While traditional donors insist on policy reforms as a precondition to receiving aid, China imposes only one condition: that the recipient country recognize there is only one China. Other differences between China and traditional donors: China generally delivers aid through projects rather than general budget support; it focuses its development assistance more on infrastructure and the productive sectors rather than on social sectors; and it links aid to trade and investment activities.
Gu noted that these are some of the reasons that China is emerging as a different type of development actor. There are important changes taking place in the world of global development as well. "It has reached a critical turning point," said Gu noting that many people are unhappy with the slow pace of reform at places like the World Bank and the IMF. Another change in the development landscape is the role of recipient countries. Some are becoming donors, while others are playing a more active role in determining how development aid is spent in their countries. In light of all of these changes, "many are wondering whether a new global development partnership might be possible," said Gu. "China is on a steep learning curve. We need to engage with it much more actively," she said.
Jing Gu made her remarks during a day-long conference at the School of Public Policy at Central European University on March 21, China's New Normal: Transitions at Home and Abroad.