South south cooperation and chinese foreign aid

Edited by

Meibo Huang, Xiuli Xu, Xiaojing Mao

South-south
Cooperation
& Chinese
Foreign Aid


South-south Cooperation and Chinese Foreign Aid


Meibo Huang • Xiuli Xu • Xiaojing Mao
Editors

South-south
Cooperation and
Chinese Foreign Aid


Editors
Meibo Huang
International Development
Cooperation Academy
Shanghai University of International
Business and Economics
Shanghai, China

Xiuli Xu
COHD

China Agricultural University
Beijing, China

Xiaojing Mao
Chinese Academy of International
Trade and Economic Cooperation
Ministry of Commerce
Beijing, China

ISBN 978-981-13-2001-9    ISBN 978-981-13-2002-6 (eBook)
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Preface

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the rise of the emerging
BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) has
provided new impetus for the promotion of South–South development
cooperation. For emerging donor countries, it has been urgent and essential to conduct deep research on the concepts, principles, methods, and
effects of South–South development cooperation, to sum up experience
and to establish a framework for such cooperation. In 2014, scholars from
emerging market countries including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and
South Africa established the Network of Southern Think Tanks (NeST),
aiming to launch systematic studies on the features, data collection activities, and evaluations of South–South development cooperation.
Demonstrating a long-term commitment to the study of South–South
development cooperation, the China International Development Research
Network (CIDRN) has participated actively in research and exchanges in
NeST since 2015. The China Chapter of NeST suggests that case studies
and related analyses are currently the most appropriate and constructive
research approach, due to limited foreign aid data and statistical systems in
the countries under study, which cannot be solved within a short timeframe, making empirical analyses of the emerging market nations’ aid
scale, sector, and regional distribution difficult to achieve. Case studies
highlight the differences in aid concepts, principles, strategies, and effectiveness between emerging market nations, and offer traditional donors
evidence as the basis for establishing emerging market countries’ foreign
aid frameworks with their own features.
v


vi 

PREFACE

In September 2015, CIDRN invited Chinese experts in the field of
foreign aid to collect and analyze China’s foreign aid cases. This book collects together 15 Chinese foreign aid cases, each of which analyzes a project’s background, characteristics, and effectiveness. Through these specific
cases, the features of South–South development cooperation in China’s
foreign aid progress are highlighted.
Shanghai, China
Beijing, China


Meibo Huang
Xiuli Xu
Xiaojing Mao


Contents

1Introduction: South–South Cooperation and Chinese
Foreign Aid  1
Meibo Huang
2Development and Characteristics of China’s Foreign Aid:
The Tanzania–Zambia Railway 23
Yu Guo
3A Landmark in China–Africa Friendship: The ChinaAided African Union Conference Center 35
Xiaoning Chen and Xiaojing Mao
4From Microanalysis to Macroperspective of China’s
Foreign Aid: Madagascar’s General Hospital Project 49
Xian Liu
5Chinese Foreign Humanitarian Assistance: Myanmar’s
2015 Floods 61

Yiyi Fan
6China’s Aid to Africa’s Fight Against Ebola 77
Chen Wang
vii


viii 

CONTENTS

7A Blend of “Hard” and “Soft” Assistance: China’s Aid to
Cambodia 95
Taidong Zhou
8Technology and Knowledge Transfer: A Case Study of
China’s Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center
in the United Republic of Tanzania113
Yue Zhang
9Peer-to-Peer Sharing in South–South Cooperation: From
Village-Based Learning Center to China–Tanzania Joint
Learning Center127
Xiuli Xu, Junle Ma, and Xiaoyun Li
10China’s Agricultural Technical Cooperation: A Case Study
on juncao Aid Projects in Papua New Guinea and Fiji143
Xiaohui Yuan
11The China–Uganda South–South Cooperation Project
Under FAO’s Food Security Framework161
Haomiao Yu
12Agricultural Trilateral Cooperation: A Case Study of the
FAO + China + Host Country Model181
Lixia Tang and Zidong Zhu

13The Innovative Aid Mode of Agriculture Going Global to
Promote Investment: CGCOC and Jiangxi Ganliang195
Yanfei Yin and Yan Li
14“Aid + Investment”: The Sustainable Development
Approach of China’s Agricultural Aid Project in
Mozambique211
Chuanhong Zhang


 CONTENTS 

ix

15China’s South–South Development Cooperation in
Practice: China and Ethiopia’s Industrial Parks233
Jing Gu
16Construction of the Zambia–China Economic and Trade
Cooperation Zone and South–South Cooperation257
Meibo Huang and Xiaoqian Zhang
Index275


Notes on Contributors

Xiaoning Chen is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of
International Development Cooperation, Chinese Academy of
International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), which is the
think tank affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce of China. She focuses
on studies of international development cooperation and China’s foreign
aid policies.

Yiyi Fan is a residential assistant research fellow at the Institute of
International Development Cooperation (CAITEC). Since 2015, Yiyi Fan
has contributed to research and writing on topics including international
humanitarian assistance and green development, as well as China’s South–
South cooperation and foreign aid policy. She has a regional focus on
Southeast Asia, particularly Myanmar. Before joining CAITEC, Ms. Fan
earned an MA in international economics and Southeast Asian studies
from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International
Studies.
Jing Gu  is a senior research fellow and director of the Centre for the
Rising Powers in Global Development, Institute of Developing Studies.
She has extensive research, training, and advisory experience in governance, business, and sustainable development. She publishes on China and
emerging powers, China’s international development role, and China–
Africa relations, most recently including The BRICS in International
Development: The State of the Debate (co-authored, Palgrave).

xi


xii 

Notes on Contributors

Yu  Guo serves in the Institute of International Cooperation of
CAITEC.  Currently she is stationed in the Embassy of the People’s
Republic of China in the Republic of Peru. She has been engaged in the
investigation of international cooperation programs and also in the management of international cooperation programs aided by the Chinese
Government.
Meibo Huang  is a professor and director of International Development
Cooperation Academy, Shanghai University of International Business and

Economics. She is a deputy secretary general of the China Society of World
Economics. She works as a managing group member in the China
International Development Research Network (CIDRN). Ms. Meibo
Huang’s current research focuses on Chinese foreign aid, Chinese trade
and investment with Africa, and development financing.
Xiaoyun Li  is a distinguished professor and founding dean of the College
of Humanities and Development Studies (COHD) at the China
Agricultural University. He is a director of the OECD/China-DAC Study
Group, and chair of the Network of Southern Think Tanks (NeST) and
CIDRN. His work covers development theory, poverty reduction, international development aid, China’s foreign aid, China and Africa, as well as
Africa’s agricultural development.
Yan Li  is a deputy director of the Division of Exhibition and Investment
Promotion of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Center of the Ministry
of Agriculture of China, with the intermediate title of translation and
interpretation. She has been engaged in research on the theories and practices of agricultural exhibitions and trade promotion, contributed to the
compilation of the book Chinese Agriculture and International
Cooperation, and translated several important documents for the United
Nations and the US Department of Agriculture.
Xian  Liu serves as an assistant research fellow in the Institute of
International Development Cooperation, CAITEC.  She worked in the
Chinese Embassy in the Republic of Madagascar for more than 3 years.
She has long been engaged in the management and research into China’s
aid programs in Africa.
Junle Ma  is a PhD candidate on China and International Development
at the COHD of the China Agricultural University. He has been a visiting
scholar to the African Studies Center of Michigan State University.


  Notes on Contributors 

xiii

His research focuses on Chinese investment and aid in Africa, and global
agricultural governance.
Xiaojing  Mao  is a senior research fellow and deputy director of the
Institute of International Development Cooperation, CAITEC. She has
been involved in initiatives related to international development cooperation and China’s foreign aid policies. She has also participated in many
important aid policy studies entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce,
including White Papers on China’s Foreign Aid and on China’s Mid- and
Long-term Country Programs.
Lixia Tang  is an associate professor of Development Studies at the China
Agricultural University, where she received a PhD in development studies.
In 2013, she gained her second degree on agricultural economy from
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In 2015, she was a visiting fellow in the
Department of International Development at the London School of
Economics. Tang Lixia has been involved in several research projects on
poverty analysis and livelihood development, international development
aid, China’s agricultural engagements in Africa, and social public policy
analysis.
Chen Wang  is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of International
Development Cooperation, CAITEC. She has experience in both policy
and practice for development and global health. From 2014 to 2015, she
was seconded to the Department of Foreign Assistance of MOFCOM. She
has participated in several policy consultancies for the Chinese Government.
Xiuli Xu  is a professor at the COHD of the China Agricultural University.
Her main research interests focus on corporate social responsibility of
Chinese overseas firms, Chinese capitalism, and cultural encounters. She
has published on Chinese overseas aid and investment in journals such as
World Development and Development and Change. She is the initiator of
the public WeChat platform “IDT (International Development Times),”

which disseminates frontier knowledge about development studies in
China.
Yanfei Yin  Holds a PhD degree in Economics of Wuhan University, and
is now an assistant research fellow at the China Development Bank. Her
research field is agricultural investment and agricultural aid. She has published a book entitled Research on Family Asset Allocation and the Smooth


xiv 

Notes on Contributors

Consumer Mechanism of China’s Rural Households, published nearly 30
academic papers, and received eight awards at ministerial level, such as the
Research Award of the Ministry of Commerce of China.
Haomiao Yu  serves as Programme Supervisor of the Foreign Economic
Cooperation Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture  and Rural Affairs of
China. She is also a PhD student on China and international development
at the COHD of the China Agricultural University. She has long been
engaged in international agriculture cooperation programs with international organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the G20, focusing on the South–
South Cooperation Programme under the FAO framework.
Xiaohui Yuan  is an associate research fellow and deputy division director
of the Institute of International Development Cooperation, CAITEC. She
is also a PhD candidate on international political economy at Renmin
University of China.
Chuanhong  Zhang  is an associate professor of development studies at
the Research Center for International Development/Department of
Development Studies at the COHD of the China Agricultural University.

Her research interests range from China’s domestic rural transformation
to international development cooperation, particularly focusing on China’s
engagement in southeast African countries including Mozambique and
Tanzania.
Xiaoqian Zhang  is a PhD candidate on world economy at the School of
Economics, Xiamen University. Her research focuses on China–Africa
economic cooperation, Africa macroeconomic policy and debt sustainability, and South–South cooperation.
Yue  Zhang is an assistant professor at the Agricultural Information
Institute/Center for International Agricultural Research of the Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences. She received her PhD in international
development studies from the COHD of the China Agricultural University.
Her research area includes South–South cooperation, international agricultural aid and investment, and international agricultural technology
transfer.


  Notes on Contributors 

xv

Taidong Zhou  serves as the head of the Global Development Division at
the China Center for International Knowledge on Development at the
Development Research Centre of the State Council. He is also a PhD
candidate on China and international development at the COHD of the
China Agricultural University. He has long been engaged in research on
and management of international cooperation programs in the fields of
law, governance, and foreign aid.
Zidong  Zhu is the department director of the Foreign Economic
Cooperation Center, Ministry of Agriculture, China. He has long been
engaged in the planning and management of international agricultural
cooperation projects, South–South cooperation under the China–FAO

framework, and bilateral agricultural cooperation.


List of Figures

Fig. 3.1
Fig. 5.1
Fig. 6.1
Fig. 7.1

Fig. 7.2

Fig. 9.1
Fig. 9.2
Fig. 15.1

Fig. 16.1
Fig. 16.2

The African Union Conference Center in Addis Ababa
37
Various countries’ relief funds to Myanmar in 2015 ($).
(Source: Based on data from Government of Myanmar (2015)
‘Myanmar: Situation Report No. 6’)
65
Distribution of Ebola cases by November 22, 2015
78
Volume of China’s aid to Cambodia 1992–2003 (US$,
thousands). (Source: Cambodian Rehabilitation and
Development Board (CRDB) of the Council for the

Development of Cambodia [CDC])
97
Volume of China’s aid to Cambodia 2004–13 (US$, millions).
(Source: Cambodian Rehabilitation and Development Board
(CRDB) of the Council for the Development of Cambodia
[CDC])98
Progress of the China–Tanzania Village-based Learning
Center for Poverty Reduction
133
Progress of the China–Tanzania Joint Research Center for
Agricultural Development project
134
Ethiopia’s GDP growth versus global growth leaders and
regional peers. (Source: Assefa, H., Bienen, D. and Ciuriak, D.
(2013) ‘Ethiopia’s Investment Prospects: A Sectoral
Overview,’ African Review of Economics and Finance, 4(2):
203–46)237
Cumulative investments in infrastructure and functional facility
(2008 to July 2015) (US$)
260
The number of enterprises settled in Zambia–China Economic
and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) (2008 to July 2015)
263

xvii


xviii 

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 16.3
Fig. 16.4

The amount of accumulated investment in Zambia–China
Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) (2007 to
July 2015) (US$)
The number of employees in Zambia–China Economic and
Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) (2007 to July 2015)

264
264


List of Tables

Table 1.1
Table 5.1
Table 7.1
Table 10.1
Table 10.2
Table 10.3
Table 10.4
Table 10.5
Table 11.1
Table 11.2
Table 11.3
Table 12.1
Table 15.1
Table 16.1

The case study projects
3
First announcements of official humanitarian aid to
Myanmar, 2015
70
Top ten aid projects in Cambodia (2014)
100
Approval process of China’s juncao technology aid project
for Papua New Guinea
145
Approval process of China’s juncao technology aid project
for Fiji
145
Implementation of the juncao technical cooperation aid
project in Papua New Guinea
146
Implementation of the juncao technical cooperation aid
project in Fiji
147
Cooperation between Fujian and provinces of Papua New
Guinea following implementation of the project
150
SSC projects supported by the China–FAO Trust Fund
(2010–16)162
Technical expertise and personnel distribution of the
China–Uganda SSC project (Phase I)
166
Technical expertise and personnel distribution of the
China–Uganda SSC project (Phase II)

168
Service areas for agricultural technical experts dispatched by
China through the FAO South–South Cooperation project
189
Industrial parks in Ethiopia
245
A brief history of the establishment of Zambia–China
Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ)
259

xix


xx 

LIST OF TABLES

Table 16.2
Table 16.3
Table 16.4

Achievements of infrastructure construction and functional
facilities in Zambia–China Economic and Trade Cooperation
Zone (ZCCZ)
Tax incentives enjoyed by enterprises belonging to the
priority sectors
Industries with good prospects for development in Zambia–
China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ)

262

265
267


CHAPTER 1

Introduction: South–South Cooperation
and Chinese Foreign Aid
Meibo Huang

South–South cooperation (SSC) originated in the 1950s. It can be broadly
defined as cooperation at bilateral, multilateral, regional, or interregional
levels that is initiated, organized, and managed by developing countries
themselves, in order to promote political, economic, social, cultural, and
scientific development.1 The United Nations Conference on Technical
Co-operation among Developing Countries, held in Buenos Aires in
1978, clearly outlined SSC as consisting of technical and economic cooperation between developing countries.2 South–South development assistance refers to the development assistance provided to another developing
country by a country of the global South. Since the start of the twenty-­
first century, a group of emerging economies (the BRICS countries) has
become the backbone of South–South development assistance in the new
era. The development assistance provided by these countries, which falls
under the framework of SSC, has its own unique features regarding the
scale of and approaches to aid, regional and sector distribution, aid channels and aid management, largely due to their differences in historical conditions, development situation, environment, and so on. However, some
features are commonly seen in SSC.
M. Huang (*)
International Development Cooperation Academy, Shanghai University of
International Business and Economics, Shanghai, China
© The Author(s) 2019
M. Huang et al. (eds.), South-south Cooperation and Chinese Foreign
Aid, />

1


2 

M. HUANG

With the start of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Sustainable
Development Agenda, the goal of global development is shifting from
poverty reduction to sustainable development. The Sustainable
Development Goals, the higher goals set for all countries in the new era,
touch on existing development problems; they place an emphasis on the
balance between economy, society and environment, and work toward
benefits for current and future generations.3 Sustainable Development
Goal 17 highlights the importance of SSC and development assistance.4
For providers of South–South development assistance, it is urgent and
necessary to thoroughly study the concept, principles, methods, and
effects; to sum up the experience and establish a system for SSC; to
enhance the effectiveness of South–South development assistance; and to
expand the impact of South–South development assistance in the international development assistance system.
However, most South–South donors have problems with unsatisfactory data systems and incomplete statistics, thus it is difficult for researchers to conduct empirical analyses on the scale, sector distribution,
regional distribution, and effects of aid. The more appropriate and constructive research method at this stage is, therefore, case study. Through
this approach, we can thoroughly discuss the concepts, principles, methods, and effects of South–South development assistance, thus providing
evidence for the establishment of a South–South development aid
system.
Based on this approach, this book presents 15 cases of China’s foreign
aid. Financial resources provided by China for foreign aid fall into three
main types: grants, interest-free loans, and concessional loans; but all the
aid projects presented here receive grants.
The cases represent four main types of aid (see Table  1.1): donating

complete sets of equipment, technical cooperation, human resources
development cooperation, and emergency-based humanitarian aid.
Regarding regional distribution, Africa and Asia are the two continents
receiving the most funds. For sector distribution, the focus is on infrastructure, agricultural assistance, and health care. Strictly speaking, the
cases in Chaps. 15 and 16 (the Ethiopian industrial parks and the Zambia–
China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone) are examples of China’s
foreign economic cooperation, not foreign aid.
Each of the 15 chapters contained in this book provides a concise introduction to the project and focuses on its characteristics and effects analysis,


  INTRODUCTION: SOUTH–SOUTH COOPERATION AND CHINESE FOREIGN AID 

3

Table 1.1  The case study projectsa
Project

Aid modalityb

Aid
areac

Aid fieldd

Tanzania–Zambia railway

Africa

African Union Conference
Center

Madagascar’s General Hospital

Complete projects
Technical cooperation
Complete projects
Technical cooperation
Complete projects

Economic
infrastructure
Public facilities

China’s humanitarian assistance
to Myanmar floods in 2015
China’s aid to Africa’s fight
against Ebola
Restoration of Angkor relics

Emergency humanitarian
aid
Emergency humanitarian
aid
Technical cooperation

Africa

Agricultural technology
demonstration center in
Tanzania

Complete projects
Technical cooperation
Human resource
development cooperation
Technical cooperation
Human resource
development cooperation
Complete projects
Technical cooperation
Technical cooperation

Africa

Medical and
health care
Public facilities
Other (disaster
relief)
Medical and
health care
Other (cultural
relics protection)
Agriculture

Africa

Agriculture

Africa

Agriculture

Human resource
development cooperation

Africa

Agriculture

Technical cooperation

Africa

Agriculture

Complete projects
Technical cooperation
Economic cooperation

Africa

Agriculture

Africa

Economic cooperation

Africa

Economic

infrastructure
Economic
infrastructure

China–Tanzania Joint Learning
Center
Papua New Guinea and Fiji
juncao technical cooperation
China–Uganda South–South
Cooperation project under Food
and Agriculture Organization’s
(FAO) Food Security
Framework
Agricultural trilateral
cooperation of
FAO + China + host country
CGCOC Agriculture
cooperation project (Nigeria)
and Jiangxi Ganliang agricultural
cooperation (Equatorial Guinea)
China-Mozambique agricultural
technology demonstration center
Ethiopia Industrial Parks
Zambia–China Economic and
Trade Cooperation Zone

Africa
Africa

Africa

Asia

Oceania Agriculture

(continued)


4 

M. HUANG

Table 1.1 (continued)
Source: aPeople’s Republic of China (2011) White Paper: China’s Foreign Aid (2011) (Beijing:
State Council Information Office). />content_281474986284620.htm
China offers foreign aid in eight forms: complete projects, goods and materials, technical cooperation,
human resource development cooperation, medical teams sent abroad, emergency humanitarian aid, volunteer programs in foreign countries, and debt relief
b

c
The recipients of China’s foreign aid cover most developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the
Caribbean, Oceania, and Eastern Europe

China’s foreign aid projects are oriented to agriculture, industry, economic infrastructure, public facilities,
education, and medical and health care
d

reflecting SSC principles, experience, and practice as well as current problems and challenges faced by Chinese foreign aid.

1.1   The Principles of South–South Cooperation
and Chinese Foreign Aid

There are two main facets of South–South development assistance. It
tends to be multifaceted, including development assistance provided bilaterally or multilaterally on grant or concessional terms, and other related
economic and technical cooperation, such as trade, investment, capacity-­
building, technology, and knowledge transfer.5 On the other hand, South–
South development assistance follows the principles of SSC, based on the
Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, namely mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual nonaggression, noninterference in
each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful
coexistence. These form the basis of the Ten Principles proposed at the
Bandung Conference of 1955, also known as the principles of SSC.  In
short, these include adherence to respect for partners’ sovereignty, no
attached political conditions, and an emphasis on mutual benefit and win–
win cooperation, as well as promoting economic development on both
sides.6 From all the 15 cases we have studied, China’s foreign aid has
always followed the principles of SSC.
1.1.1  No Political Conditions Attached
No political conditions are attached to South–South development assistance, which is based on the diplomatic principle of noninterference in
others’ internal affairs. Providers of North–South development assistance


  INTRODUCTION: SOUTH–SOUTH COOPERATION AND CHINESE FOREIGN AID 

5

argue that political conditions attached to development assistance could
promote recipient countries’ establishment of Western-style democracy
and governance systems, and might be beneficial to the supervision of
recipient countries’ use of aid funds. However, attached political conditions mean a loss of sovereignty for recipient countries and the violation of
the demand-oriented principle. South–South development assistance providers tend to think that the complexity and dynamics of the development
environment make it hard for donor countries to determine the development needs of recipient countries in a timely and comprehensive manner.
From a static point of view, however, a country’s development is rooted in

its environment, and attached political conditions might not be suitable
for recipient countries. Also, from a dynamic point of view, after World
War II, donor countries’ attached political conditions keep changing over
time with donors’ changing conceptions of aid, which could potentially
hinder recipient countries from formulating long-term development plans.
Most of the cases in this book show that Chinese foreign aid upholds
sovereign equality, attaches no conditions, and exerts no interference in
others’ internal affairs. China does not take foreign aid as a means to
interfere with other countries’ internal affairs or a way to seek political
privileges.
First, the principle of sovereign equality. The Tanzania–Zambia Railway
project demonstrates China’s foreign aid philosophy of equality and
mutual benefit, set under the framework of SSC. The Chinese Government
provides foreign aid and believes that foreign aid should be mutually beneficial rather than unilateral (Chap. 2). China also adheres to the principle
of equality between responsibility and rights, e.g., in the China–Uganda
SSC project, which emphasizes support for Uganda’s ongoing
Development Strategy and Investment Plan and ensures that the priority
areas of cooperation are consistent with the strategy in order to meet the
country’s agricultural development needs (Chap. 11).
Second, the principle of attaching no political conditions. Take the
Madagascar General Hospital project as an example, this project takes the
form of nonreimbursable assistance provided by China to improve local
people’s livelihood and promote local development. When negotiating
the construction of this hospital, China did not make any political demand
or attach any political condition for the aid project (Chap. 4). Likewise,
China’s juncao7 technical cooperation with Papua New Guinea and Fiji
did not attach any political conditions and the two recipient countries
were not asked to meet any political criteria in order to receive ­development

6 

M. HUANG

assistance (see Chap. 10). Project approval and implementation were
based completely on the actual needs of the recipient countries. Learning
from China’s development experience, the project was designed to help
the recipient countries address development problems, taking aid effectiveness, rather than serving a political purpose, as the standard of
success.
Finally, the principle of noninterference in others’ internal affairs. Take
China’s aid to Cambodia as an example here. Since the two countries
established diplomatic relations, China has not suspended its aid to
Cambodia on grounds of either domestic changes in the Cambodian
Government or serious economic difficulties faced by China at home.
China never used its aid projects to intervene in Cambodia’s internal
affairs or national governance (Chap. 7). China always follows the principle of “adhering to humanitarian assistance and opposing humanitarian
intervention” in foreign humanitarian aid, which is consistent with China’s
foreign aid policy of “noninterference in internal affairs,” and is the most
essential characteristic of China’s foreign aid. This was fully reflected in
China’s humanitarian assistance to Myanmar’s floods in 2015 (Chap. 5).
1.1.2  Mutual Benefit and Win–Win Cooperation
Reflected in the documents of the Bandung, Buenos Aires, Nairobi,
Bogota, and Delhi SSC conferences, South–South development assistance
places more emphasis on the principle of mutual benefit and win–win
cooperation, corresponding to its wider range of development cooperation scope. South–South development assistance often focuses on the
infrastructure and production (e.g. agricultural) sectors, and a commitment to promote bilateral trade, investment, and other business activities
through aid.8 This characteristic of South–South development assistance
aims to meet the interests of both donors and recipients. Take infrastructure assistance as an example, from the perspective of the recipient countries, infrastructure assistance could alleviate infrastructure shortages with
positive effects on economic growth. In addition, the construction of
infrastructure could help to cut the operating costs of trade and nontrade

sectors, thus promoting the expansion of trade and investment to recipient
countries. From the perspective of donor countries, countries in the South
have more experience and cost advantages in infrastructure construction
compared with other fields, and infrastructure assistance is conducive to
the export of their overcapacity and experience. Therefore, focusing


  INTRODUCTION: SOUTH–SOUTH COOPERATION AND CHINESE FOREIGN AID 

7

South–South development assistance on infrastructure construction is a
better choice for both recipient and donor countries. For example, China’s
long-term substantive or “hard” assistance to Cambodia has laid down a
necessary foundation for Cambodia to develop its economy, and has
improved its people’s livelihood, productivity, sanitation, and public
health. In addition, bilateral trade and investment between these two
countries were also promoted, and people-to-people exchanges between
China and Cambodia are increasing (see Chap. 7).

1.2   The Experience and Practice of Chinese
Foreign Aid
In order to improve the effectiveness of aid and ensure its sustainability,
South–South development assistance has made useful explorations of
long-term practices, taking unique approaches and accumulating rich
experience. Three outstanding experiences and practices are described
below.
1.2.1  Following the Principle of Ownership and Demand
Orientation
In SSC, the principle of ownership means that development assistance is

oriented toward the development of recipient countries, and that recipient
countries should be in a dominant position at various stages of development assistance programs.9 The Buenos Aires conference set out nine
goals for technical cooperation among developing countries, the first of
which is to build recipient countries’ self-development capacity and ability
to solve development problems through improving their creativity, on the
premise of respecting the value, pursuits and special needs of developing
countries themselves. It is pointed out in the documents of the Nairobi
conference10 that aid should be provided to enhance development capacity
and to solve the development problems faced by developing countries on
the premise of meeting their needs. In the conference documents of the
Bogota and Delhi conferences, the “demand-oriented” principle is emphasized further.11
The principle of ownership and demand orientation is fully interpreted
in the practice of Chinese foreign aid. The construction of the African
Union (AU) Conference Center addressed its long-term problem of the