FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG – CHINA’S INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION 1 INTRODUCTION How can China still claim to be a developing country when it is one of the biggest donors? 1 China has emerged as one of the world’s largest contribu­tors to international development cooperation. Despite the scale on which China’s development flows now take place, the details of how China provides aid and development co­operation remain largely opaque to German and European observers. This is, in part, because China does not report its development finance figures to international organisations. Moreover, with the exception of White Papers that are ex­plicitly directed at foreign audiences, very little openly acces­sible information on the topic in Chinese is translated into English. The purpose of this study is to address this knowl­edge gap. Though China is often perceived as a“new donor” on the African continent who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, this is by no means the case. Chinese development cooper­ation with Africa began soon after the Afro–Asian Confer­ence in Bandung in 1955 and has continued without inter­ruption ever since, with China consistently ranking among the top ten donors in Sub-Saharan Africa since the late 1970s. 2 Its development lending to the continent has in­creased in the last decade, rising noticeably following the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) in 2013. Accord­ing to estimates by the Washington-based think tank Center for Global Development, between 2007 and 2020, China lent more than twice as much for infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa as the United States(US), United King­dom(UK), Japan, and Germany combined. 3 China charac­terises its cooperation with Africa as“South-South Cooper­1 Background interviews with Members of the European Parliament. 2 Rudyak, M.(2021). The Past in the Present of Chinese International Development Cooperation. Made in China Journal 6(2). https://doi. org/10.22459/MIC.06.02.2021.10 3 Lee, N.& Gonzalez, M.C.(2022). Stuck Near Ten Billion: Public-Private Infrastructure Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa. CGD Policy Paper, 251. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/stuck-near-ten-billion-pub­lic-private-infrastructure-finance-sub-saharan-africa.pdf ation”, 4 which is defined by the United Nations(UN) as “technical cooperation among developing countries in the Global South”. 5 Most official development finance from Chi­na consists of project loans for infrastructure development, which are often provided in the form of resources-for-infra­structure swaps. 6 But China is no longer simply building roads; it also offers solutions for digital and telecommunica­tions infrastructure or smart cities. In many places, it has stepped in to fill gaps left by the West or in areas that were not addressed at all by other aid in the first place. China’s development footprint in Africa is immense. Though the European Union(EU) is the largest contributor to official development assistance(ODA) in Africa and the US remains the leading individual donor among the members of the Or­ganization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee(DAC), China has overtaken both as the most significant economic player in Africa. It is now the primary source of foreign direct in­vestment on the continent. Moreover, China is now also Af­rica’s second-largest trading partner after the European Un­ion, with about US Dollar(USD) 282 billion in turnover in 2022. 7 By comparison, Germany’s trade volume amounted to Euro 59.8 billion in trade in 2022, about half of which is accounted for by South Africa. 8 The Chinese approach to international development cooper­ation is viewed with concern in Europe. Only a fraction of Chinese development finance meets DAC ODA criteria. Most­4 PRC State Council Information Office(SCIO)(2021). China and Af­rica in the New Era: A Partnership of Equals. White Paper. 26 October. http://www.news.cn/english/2021-11/26/c_1310333813.htm 5 UNDESA(2019). What is‘South-South Cooperation’ and Why Does it Matter? United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 20 March. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/intergov­ernmental-coordination/south-south-cooperation-2019.html 6 Rudyak, M.& Chen, Y.(2021). China’s Lending Landscape and ­Approach to Debt Relief. ODI Emerging Analysis, October. https:// odi.org/en/publications/chinas-lending-landscape-and-approach­to-debt-relief/ 7 Global Times(2023). Chinese Foreign Ministry Stresses Solidarity With Africa, as Bilateral Trade Grows Steadily. Global Times, 24 August. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1296912.shtml 8 This is an increase of 21.3% compared to 2021. InterGest(2023). Ger­man- African Trade Increased by 21 Percent to 60 Billion Euros in 2022. InterGest South Africa. https://intergest.co.za/german-african­trade-increased-by-21-percent-to-60-billion-euros-in-2022 4