Development Assistance To Africa: The Chinese Approach

Development Assistance has taken an importance place in the International Relations. Nowadays, all states participate in the process of assistance, whether as a donor or as recipient.Foreign assistance as a means to contribute to economic development and meet the basic humanitarian need of poor countries was first promoted by developed countries. Today, this process is not anymore exclusive to these countries. Other states in other region have participated actively in assisting poor regions, especially in Africa.China`s first assistance to African countries dated in 1960s. After an active contact with continent at the beginning of Cold War and quasi-absence between 1970s and early 1980s, in 1990s was a decade that China intensified its relation with that continent. Last decade China has increased its relations with the continent through trade, investment and development assistance. China has increased its aid to whole continent. The FOCAC held in 2006 in Beijing marked the beginning of a more deep cooperation China-Africa. China has presented a new approach of foreign aid, not based in western pattern. Now it is known by Beijing Consensus to oppose the Washington Consensus.There are many works about China-Africa relations but Chinese aid has not been given too much attention. So far, there are no conclusive works about the Chinese aid focus on the determinants of Chinese aid and why China is presenting a new approach of aid and so forth. My objective is to analyze the main driving forces of Chinese aid to Africa. I argue that Chinese approach to assist Africa does not rely only in realist view that mention reason such political, economic and security interest or liberalist that claims that China's aids is guided by humanitarian need. Factors like image and China identity as developing countries also influence the Chinese aid policy.The main questions are: What are the main driving forces of Chinese aid to Africa? Do different approaches of foreign aid involve different motives? To answer these questions I frame the Chinese case within the literature about the motivations of aid. The literature on determinants of foreign aid, dominate two main motives: moral and humanitarian motives and self-interest motives. Moral and humanitarian motives originated from idealist view sees foreign aid as moral obligation of rich states to help other poor states. Self-interest motives originated from realist view, aid is seen as a tool of foreign policy and is not separated from states seeking its own interest and enhanced its own power as a way to survive in the state of nature.I argue that Chinese aid to Africa is driven by self-interest motives but they are not only material ones, such economic and politics, also non-material motive influence this aid flow. The existent literature on Chinese foreign aid to Africa although, the issue is not addressed in the way this paper does, (descriptive work that focus the Chinese aid system, amount and king of aid), is implicit the economic motives of Chinese aid similar to other works in China-Africa relations.Economic interest plays as central determinants of Chinese aid, for national growth and internal stability has replaced the politics motives such Taiwan issue and influence in the UN. Beside this material goal, economics and politics, I argue that the Chinese seeking for a status in international community by the necessity of given a image of peaceful, responsible and cooperative country instead of threat image plays now one of determinant of Chinese engagement with the continent– the concept I use is self-affirmation. This concept is used by Maurits van der Veen to argue that foreign aid is also determined by non-material goals, such self-affirmation whose aid is used to project national identity, to enhance international status or to look for a particular kind of reputation.