Study Group on China’s Foreign Aid
Aim and Background
The aim of this research group is to study and analyze the China’s foreign aid
comprehensively with a future-oriented perspective, and determine the potential for
Japan-China development cooperation based on Japan’s experiences in development
assistance cooperation.
In recent years, China’s presence in the area of development (economic)
cooperation has grown exponentially. However, China’s involvement in developing
countries, above all its support of certain non-democratic states, has at times been seen
as a problem and caused a certain measure of alarm and concern internationally. At thesame time, information about China’s development aid is not readily available because
China is not a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD). Under these circumstances, international debates about China’s foreign aid
policy often depend on episodic information, and there is no denying that often this formof analysis magnifies alarm and concern.
However, the central actors in the international aid community, such as theOECD and other organizations, are largely colored by Western values and interests.
Even as China’s development aid has been expanding, South Korea became an official
member of the Development Assistance Committee (a sub-committee of the OECD
dedicated to development aid) in January 2011. Hence, the relative weight of
non-Western actors in the donor community is growing. This suggests the possibility
that, in the future, “Western-type” organizations and “non-Western type” organizations
will spur each other on. Keeping this issue in mind, efforts to turn Sino-Japanesedevelopment cooperation into a strategic element of current relations take on greatsignificance.
This project will last throughout 2010 and 2011, with the group conducting
research while actively promoting intellectual exchange between Chinese and Japanesedevelopment aid policy experts. With the correct preconditions, this research might
have a pioneering academic significance with regard to China’s hitherto veiled andopaque development aid policy. At the same time, it could also become a valuable
intellectual asset for Japanese diplomacy.

Outline of Activities
The current research is primarily focused on drafting a systematic blueprint of China’s
foreign aid. The particular issues of discussion will be:
1. China’s foreign aid philosophy and policies
2. The mechanisms and structure of China’s foreign aid
3. An evaluation of China’s foreign aid record
4. The consistency between international development aid regimes and China’s foreignaid
5. The possibility of Japan-China cooperation in development aid
The first period of research lasted from August 2010 until January 2011,
during which four meetings (including presentations by visiting lecturers) were held.
Chinese documents were also collected and translated where appropriate, and basic
bibliographies and materials were compiled. By the end of the year the research results
were summarized in an interim report.
While building on the previous research, the main springboard of discussion
from April 2011 will be the “White Paper on Foreign Aid Policy”, published by theInformation Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China in April. We
will sort through the facts revealed by this paper, determine the undisclosed points
requiring more research, and clarify the particular features of China’s aid policy. In
addition we will undertake a multifaceted study to investigate the opportunities andrisks this might pose for the international community.
Special report meetings will be held on a monthly basis throughout the year. Inaddition, the study group has scheduled an international workshop for the end of
September and invited several Chinese researchers. The workshop is aimed atinitiating a frank exchange of opinions between Japanese and Chinese experts andpolicy makers; in addition to making available the most recent material, this should
help promote mutual comprehension and dialogue between Japan and China. The
results obtained from the research and workshop will be compiled in a final report byMarch 2012.

Members
Chairman:SHIMOMURA Yasutami

Professor Emeritus, Hosei University

Study Group Members:
OHASHI Hideo

Professor, Senshu University

INADA Juichi

Professor, Senshu University

ONO Izumi

Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy
Studies

KOBAYASHI Takaaki

Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)WATANABE Shino

Associate Professor, Saitama University

SUZUKI Takashi

Lecturer, Aichi Prefectural University

Member & Secretary:
KADOZAKI Shinya

ResearchFellow,

TheJapan

Instituteof

International Affairs
Research Collaborators:
LIN Xiaoguang

Professor, Party School of the Central Committee ofthe Communist Party of China

ZHANG Yong

Assistant Researcher, Chinese Academy of SocialSciences

WANG Ping

Research Fellow, Guangdong University of ForeignStudies