China's Foreign Aid and International Development Cooperation in a COVID-19 Pandemic World

In 2021, amid the profound global changes unseen in a century accelerated by an unprecedented pandemic, the foreign aid of China follows the concepts of building a community with a shared future for mankind and serving the head-of-state diplomacy, and focuses on international anti-pandemic cooperation and "small yet smart" assistance programs. This not only promotes the pandemic response and socio- economic recovery of the recipient countries, but also strongly serves China in building a new development paradigm and safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests. The work of China's foreign aid can be summarized into a "1+2+3" formula.

"1" refers to one focus, that is playing a leading role in international anti-pandemic cooperation. Amid a pandemic that has raged across the globe for two years, China has done a lot to help other developing countries. Under the personal leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has carried out the longest and largest emergency humanitarian assistance since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In 2020, China's aid was in its first half, featuring anti-pandemic supplies and exchanges of experience in fighting the pandemic. China provided more than 4.2 billion protective suits, 8.4 billion testing kits and 372 billion masks, among other much-needed supplies to combat the coronavirus, to 150 countries and 13 international organizations. In addition, 37 Chinese medical expert groups were sent to 34 countries.

In 2021, China's anti-pandemic aid entered the second half, with its focus turning to vaccine donations. So far, China has provided over 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 120 countries and international organizations, making it the top vaccine provider in the world. The heads of states or governments of more than 30 countries attended the vaccine handover ceremonies and took the lead in being vaccinated. China launched the emergency anti-pandemic support plan for neighboring countries, and established the China-South Asia National Emergency Supplies Reserve. Instead of following the conventional government-to-government approach in foreign aid, China's vaccines and anti-pandemic supplies have been donated to neighboring countries including Myanmar, Laos, Pakistan and Cambodia in a selective and targeted manner, thus building an anti- pandemic protection belt in the neighborhood and supporting the domestic policy of preventing inbound cases. China is among the first countries to provide emergency humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. China is also leading developing countries in Africa and other regions in fighting the pandemic through aid programs. On November 29, 2021, President Xi Jinping announced at the opening ceremony of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that China would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa.

"2" refers to promoting small and big assistance programs together. On the one hand, China has focused on "small yet smart" assistance programs that cost less but bear fruit rapidly and benefit people's livelihoods. For a long time, China's foreign aid has taken into consideration the need of the recipient states and helped construct a large number of landmark buildings in developing countries, which has effectively expanded China's influence. Now, we are guiding the recipient countries to identify with our new foreign aid thinking of focusing on "small yet smart" assistance programs, paying more attention to providing expertise for long-term benefits, sharing our governance experience, and doing more on intellectual aid such as human resources development and cultural programs. In addition, China has been working through suggestions for projects and specific cooperation demands along the Belt and Road routes in order to serve high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in a more targeted and effective way. At the third symposium on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on November 19, 2021, President Xi Jinping specifically mentioned the story of Juncao assistance for foreign countries, instructing that ªsmall yet smartº assistance programs be prioritized in international cooperation. When he was Governor of Fujian Province two decades ago, Mr. Xi Jinping personally promoted the Juncao technology to be applied in Papua New Guinea as an official aid project firstly. As an example of "small yet smart" assistance programs that truly enhance people's well-being, the Juncao technology has now brought benefits to over 100 developing countries worldwide.

On the other hand, China has prudently arranged complete sets of projects. Apart from anti-pandemic assistance, China's foreign aid in 2021 has taken various factors into account, including the fact that some projects have already been under construction, that there is an urgent need for specific recipient countries, and that the epidemic situation is different between states. With all this in mind, complete sets of foreign aid projects have been advanced in a prudent manner. For example, the China-aided national stadium project in Cambodia was recently handed over. Besides, China's foreign aid has been making remarkable strides in areas such as public health, poverty reduction, climate change response, and green development, advancing both big and small projects in a balanced way.

"3" refers to successfully holding three important commemorative events. To earnestly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important request of strengthening China's international communication capacity and telling the China story well, the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) has successively held three major commemorative events in 2021, namely the Exhibition on the 70th Anniversary of China's Foreign Assistance, the Forum on the 20th Anniversary of Juncao Assistance and Sustainable Development Cooperation, and the 5th Anniversary of the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund and the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development. President Xi Jinping specially sent congratulatory letters to the latter two events, and all these activities have effectively extended the international influence of China's foreign aid.

The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) summarized in a scientific manner the Party's historical struggles, major achievements and precious experience over the past century. Among the important historical experience emanating from the Party's endeavors over the past century, which was profoundly expounded upon during the conference, was its stance of "maintaining a global vision," which has demonstrated the broad horizons, the open mind and the firm commitment of the CPC as a major Marxist political party in a major country. Foreign aid serves as the best platform to practice the CPC's steadfast global vision. Beginning in 1950, China's 71 years of foreign aid can be roughly divided into three stages.

First is the exploration stage from the founding of the PRC to the Reform and Opening-up, or from 1950 to 1978. China's foreign aid in this stage progressed rapidly. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway and the Karakoram Highway have now become symbols of Chinese foreign aid. In supporting the recipient countries' economic development through foreign aid, China helped itself break the West's blockade and expanded its circle of friends, thus elevating its international influence and standing.

Then comes the reform stage from the Reform and Opening-up to the 18th CPC National Congress, or from 1978 to 2012. In this stage, the focus of China's foreign aid underwent a major transformation from productive projects to landmark architecture such as stadiums and parliamentary buildings. This deepened the political and economic cooperation between China and many developing countries. In the meantime, it marked the in-depth involvement of China's foreign aid in the country's reform and opening-up course, and effectively enabled Chinese enterprises to go global.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China's foreign aid has entered the stage of innovation in the new era. First, foreign aid is more precisely positioned. Foreign aid serves as an important strategic instrument of China's major-country diplomacy, a crucial component of China's international strategy, and a significant arena for China to demonstrate its responsibility as a major country. Second, the concepts of foreign aid have witnessed continuous innovation. President Xi Jinping has put forward important ideas including building a community with a shared future for mankind, upholding the greater good and shared interests, and following the principles of "sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith" and of "amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness." He has also proposed the BRI and the Global Development Initiative, among other major initiatives. These ideas and initiatives serve as the strategic guidance and fundamental orientation of China's foreign aid and international development cooperation in the new era. Third, relevant mechanisms have been increasingly improved. In 2018, the Chinese central government decided to establish CIDCA as a step to rigorously advance the reform in foreign aid institutions and mechanisms. Lastly, the contributions made have achieved increasing global significance. In particular, China has set up the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund, and launched the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development. In the face of ever-increasing global challenges, China Aid has never been absent.

China has made great achievements in its seven decades of foreign aid, and in this process accumulated precious experience.

Maintaining a global vision and extending help across the world under the guidance of the Marxist internationalism theory. China's global vision is rooted in its fine traditional culture. The world in the eyes of the Chinese people is one where humanity live and grow harmoniously, where all under heaven are of one family. "A just cause should be pursued for the common good," said China's Book of Rites. Seeking intellectual resources from Chinese fine traditional culture, the CPC, with a global view, is consistently concerned about the future of humanity. Grasping the overall trend of human development, the overall picture of global changes, and the overall evolution of China's history, it has correctly understood and properly handled its relations with the outside world. China's global vision is also derived from Marxism and its adaptation to the Chinese context. International aid is an important component of the Marxist internationalism idea. As stated in the Communist Manifesto, the proletariat can eventually liberate itself only by liberating all humankind. It is also believed by Marxism that external assistance plays a vital role in the proletarian revolutionary victory. To achieve liberation of themselves, mutual assistance is a necessity and a must for proletarians. As pointed out by Chairman Mao Zedong, China as a major country should make greater contributions to humanity. General Secretary Xi Jinping has also underscored that while pursuing happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the CPC is also committed to promoting human progress and world harmony. Early in its establishment, the CPC received unselfish help from the Communist International. When the PRC was first founded, the Soviet Union offered China large amounts of assistance. China also viewed its aid to the Third World countries as a support for the socialist movement worldwide.

Over the past 70 years, China has continuously advanced the innovation of its foreign aid concepts. Both the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence put forward in 1954 and the Eight Principles for Economic Aid and Technical Assistance to Other Countries declared in 1964 were warmly echoed by other developing countries. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, China established the foreign aid guiding principle of "doing the best we can to help." At the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs held at the end of 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we should uphold the greater good and shared interests, act in good faith, value friendship, champion justice and set a moral example. This is the value guideline for China's foreign aid, which rejects mercenary calculation in financial terms.

Upholding the distinguished characteristics formed in China's foreign aid. China regards government aid as the main channel for foreign aid, and adheres to the principles of equality, respect for sovereignty, non- interference in the internal affairs of other countries and no political strings attached. China combines its foreign aid with mutually beneficial cooperation, and promotes economic complementarity and common development with recipient countries by focusing on friendly cooperation, upholding win-win outcomes, and putting the greater good first in the pursuit of shared interests. China fully leverages its strength in infrastructure development to help recipient countries overcome the barriers to long-term economic development. Guided by the conviction to provide expertise for long-term benefits, China puts great emphasis on sharing its development experience with, rather than imposing its development model on, the recipient countries, and has carried out extensive multilateral and bilateral programs of human resource development on this basis. Moreover, China's aid is not premised on ideology or political systems; it has also provided humanitarian assistance to countries without diplomatic relations based on their actual needs.

Preserving the fighting spirit without excluding cooperation with the West, and actively serving the national strategy on the external front. Though hailed by some people as the noblest work under the sun, foreign aid has increasingly become a battlefield without smoke as major countries invest more and more in this field to win the never-ending competition over political systems and ideology. With regard to foreign aid, China has always held the international moral high ground and stood on the right side of history, upholding and carrying forward the CPC's great founding spirit of fighting bravely without fear of sacrifice. Starting from the assistance to Vietnam and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to resist the French and US's aggression respectively, China's foreign aid has achieved political and economic influence, upheld international morality and won the hearts and minds of the people. China's anti-pandemic assistance in the past two years also demonstrates the proper demeanor of a major country and the strengths of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and exposes the hypocrisy of so-called democracies of some Western powers. When the international community was in urgent need of vaccines in early 2021, China took the lead in providing aid and firmly led the global anti-pandemic cooperation despite many challenges. In contrast, some Western powers ignored the urgent needs of other countries and hoarded a large number of vaccines, which was heavily criticized.

Over the past 70 years, the concepts and practices of international aid have continued to evolve. In the 1940s, started with the Marshall Plan, foreign assistance was ideology-based and carried highly political and strategic connotations, covering mainly military and economic aid. After the establishment of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the 1960s, foreign assistance was transformed to international development assistance to meet the needs of newly independent developing countries to develop their national economies. Meanwhile, developed countries began to promote unified coordination mechanisms, standards and plans for assistance. As developing countries began to comprehensively participate in global economic governance in the late 1990s, the concepts of "foreign assistance" and "international development assistance" were replaced by "international development cooperation." Marked by the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, this new concept puts more emphasis on the two-way, diverse and integrated nature of international aid.

The concepts and practices of China's foreign aid have its own characteristics. While opposing the containment, suppression, attack and slander from the US and the West, China also pays attention to dialogues and exchanges with the OECD and Western countries on international development cooperation. On the one hand, we have strengthened communication and mutual learning, and never reject linking up with international standards and with common development concepts. The name of China International Development Cooperation Agency clearly reflects the concept of international development cooperation. On the other hand, we explored and have carried out cooperation in some areas, such as third- party cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance with multilateral agencies and Western countries through the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund. In this process, the US and the West have also recognized the effectiveness of China's foreign aid cooperation and started to imitate it. Both the "Build Back Better World" (B3W) of the United States and the "Global Gateway" of the European Union have been stimulated by China's BRI and they also focus on infrastructure development. Some Western scholars have acknowledged the advantages of China's approach to foreign assistance. A report published by the Overseas Development Institute of the United Kingdom pointed out that unlike the Marshall Plan that attempted to control the economic lifeline of other countries, the loan contracts of the BRI never include ideological or economic requirements as conditions for funding. Excluding any "evil intentions" on the part of the Chinese government, it reflects China's policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

Adhering to the character of South-South cooperation and mutual assistance among developing countries. China's insistence on doing its own things well has a triple meaning. To begin with, China's development itself has been a huge contribution to human society. In addition, as China develops, the international community could reduce its development assistance to China and offer more support to other countries. Moreover, while developing itself, China also provides as much assistance to other developing countries as it can through mutually beneficial cooperation for common development. That's why China established the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund and the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development. Given that China is still a developing country, its foreign aid is still within the scope of South-South cooperation, which is a supplement to the main channel of North-South cooperation. Developed countries have the responsibility and obligation to facilitate the development of developing countries.

In the face of a turbulent and changing world, China's development and revitalization is unstoppable under the general trend of a rising East and a declining West. The better China develops, the greater international responsibility it has to bear, with higher expectations from developing countries as well as increasing containment from the US and the West. In this context, the unique and irreplaceable role of foreign aid as an important instrument for building a community with a shared future for mankind has become more prominent.

We will continue to lead the international anti-pandemic cooperation with head-of-state diplomacy as the top priority. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage, it is imperative for the international community to enhance cooperation against the virus. To help developing countries fight the pandemic and achieve economic and social recovery, President Xi Jinping has announced a series of major assistance measures, which we must make every effort to implement. We will continue to provide vaccines and anti-epidemic supplies to countries in urgent need, carry out medical technical cooperation, and help developing countries better their public health systems. Also, as all parties share a strong need for economic recovery as the pandemic situation changes, we will carry out regular assistance projects to help developing countries ride out the storm.

We will promote post-pandemic economic recovery with a focus on people's livelihoods. "Small yet smart" assistance programs will be the priority of our foreign cooperation, and further focus will be put on livelihood issues such as poverty, unemployment, health and education. We are ready to share more experience on governance, improve and enrich the plan to provide expertise for long-term benefits, and formulate more brand projects that are down to earth and broadly espoused, so as to help more developing countries achieve economic recovery and independent development.

We will help build the Green Silk Road. The BRI proposed by President Xi Jinping is an important public good China contributes to the world, which bridges continentally, spans globally, connects ancient and modern times, and delivers far-reaching benefits. We will fully utilize the guiding and leveraging roles of foreign aid, and actively take our international responsibility to cope with climate change. We will implement assistance projects on climate change, clean energy and ecological protection, actively share our experience on green development, and co-build a Green Silk Road.

We will advance the implementation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with a multilateral platform. It is particularly important to uphold multilateralism in this world full of uncertainty and instability. We will further link up with international standards and with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and adhere to the traditional model of our foreign aid that is government-led and bilaterally- based. Meanwhile, we will also promote the transformation and the upgrade of our foreign aid towards international development cooperation, featuring joint action of official and non-governmental channels, a combination of bilateral and multilateral approaches, diverse interactions, and win-win results.

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This article is based on his speech at the Symposium on the International Situation and China's Foreign Relations in 2021, co-hosted by China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and China Foundation for International Studies (CFIS) in Beijing on December 20, 2021.