FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG – CHINA’S INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION 3 THE CHINESE AID SYSTEM INSTITUTIONAL APPARATUS OF CHINA’S INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION HIGHEST POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING LEVEL(PARTY AND STATE) Central Foreign Affairs Commission(CFAF) The Central Foreign Affairs Commission(CFAC) of the Chi­nese Communist Party is the highest foreign policy deci­sion-making organ in China’s political system and, thus, the highest decision-making authority on China’s international development cooperation. The CFAC is chaired by the Com­munist Party’s General Secretary and China’s President Xi Jinping and vice-chaired by Premier Li Qiang. The CFAC Gen­eral Office is led by Politburo member Wang Yi, who served as China’s Foreign Minister from 2013 to 2022 and was rein­stated in July 2023 after the demotion of Qin Gang. The CFAC directs China’s foreign policy, including the major de­cisions on loans and China’s foreign aid. State Council The State Council is China’s highest administrative authority. It is chaired by Premier Li Qiang and comprised of the pre­mier, the four vice premiers, three state councillors, and the heads of each of the 26 cabinet-level executive depart­ments. The State Council decides on the general policy ori­entation and political guidelines of Chinese international de­velopment cooperation policies. Regarding foreign aid, it approves the annual budget, any grant above USD 1.5 mil­lion, projects costing more than USD 12.5 million, foreign aid to politically sensitive countries, and any request that ex­ceeds the annual aid budget. China’s aid agency CIDCA re­ports to the State Councillor Wang Yi, who is also China’s Foreign Minister. MINISTRIES AND AFFILIATED POLICYMAK­ING AND IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTIONS aid(donation of goods, technical assistance, or training), in­terest-free loans, and concessional loans. CIDCA has the bureaucratic status of a vice-ministry and is directly subor­dinate to the State Council. It was established in April 2018 after more than ten years of debates on whether China needed a dedicated aid agency and replaced the Ministry of Commerce(MOFCOM) as the lead coordinating agency for China’s foreign aid, which had overseen Chinese aid since the early 1980s. 61 Specifically, CIDCA’s responsibili­ties 62 include: – drawing-up strategic guidelines and preparing medium and long-term foreign aid policy plans; – formulation of country-specific aid policies; – drafting of annual plans and programs and managing the scope and use of foreign aid funds; – identifying suitable foreign aid projects and supervising and evaluating their implementation; – conducting foreign aid negotiations with recipients and signing aid agreements; – approving foreign aid concessional loans, which are dis­bursed through the China Exim Bank; – monitoring and evaluation of foreign aid projects. However, CIDCA’s responsibility is mainly limited to political steering; it is not responsible for project implementation, which is principally carried out by MOFCOM’s subordinate agencies and specialised line ministries. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the implementation of agricultural cooperation projects, and the National Health Commission for sending medical teams. In recipient coun­tries, oversight of Chinese aid projects is implemented by Chinese embassies and consulates. China International Development Cooperation Agency(CIDCA) The China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) is the lead coordinating agency for Chinese official development assistance, which China defines as“foreign aid”( duiwai yuanzhu 对外援助 ). Foreign aid includes grant 61 MOFCOM and its predecessor ministries. 62 As spelt out in the“Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid” ( 对外援助管理办法 ), the guiding policy document on China’s ODA. Rudyak, M.(2021). New Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid by CIDCA, MFA and MOFCOM. China Aid Blog, 1 September. http://china-aid-blog.com/2021/09/01/407/ 14