China, Africa and the international aid architecture

This paper analyses China’s growing foreign aid and export credit programme as an element of the changing international aid architecture. It finds that practices governing Chinese aid and development finance diverge from clear standards and norms of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on transparency and definitions, the management of concessional export credits and the management of sovereign debt. In the area of environmental and social protections, corruption and governance, the paper finds mixed results. The paper concludes that the global aid regime is not well-institutionalised regarding democracy and human rights, and Chinese practice is not as different in this arena as often believed.