The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute published in January 2026 a study titled "China and the Changing International Development Landscape" by Jingdong Yuan.
The current level of China's overseas development assistance makes it impossible for Beijing to fill the gap left by the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development. Beijing is more willing to promote its development aid model of infrastructure-driven and trade-related growth.
Brookings published on 11 March 2025 a commentary titled "Can China Fill the Void in Foreign Aid?" by Yun Sun.
China's foreign aid has consistently been a fraction of America's. The highly publicized Belt and Road Initiative is mostly a commercial activity with a small percentage of development finance. China's global foreign aid budget for 2024 was $2.85 billion. Traditionally, about half the budget goes to countries in Africa. In 2023, USAID's global budget was about $42 billion, and the State Department provided another $19 billion.
Not only has the United States provided far more aid, but nearly all of it is in the form of grants while the largest percentage of China's aid is the concessionary part of loans. The dismantlement of USAID by the Trump administration will leave China with more influence in a smaller space, but it doesn't mean China can step in to fill the void. In addition, USAID's portfolio of humanitarian assistance does not overlap with China's capabilities. China will likely seek political, diplomatic, and economic returns for any increase in its assistance. Most significantly, Beijing will work to exploit the opportunity of American withdrawal to portray the US as the irresponsible great power.
The China International Development Cooperation Agency published on 17 December 2024 an article titled "3rd China-Indian Ocean Forum on Development Cooperation Held in Kunming."
Wang Yong, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at the opening ceremony of the China-Indian Ocean Forum that "the construction of a maritime community with a shared future is evolving from a Chinese initiative into a shared international goal."
India's Observer Research Foundation published on 30 December 2024 a commentary titled "Competitive Regionalism in the Indian Ocean" by Sayantan Haldar.
The Indian Ocean is witnessing competition for primacy between China and India. In 1997, India created the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for Regional Cooperation. China has dialogue partner status. Since 2021, China has been convening the China-Indian Ocean Forum. India is not a member.
IORA is an intergovernmental forum that seeks to operate through diplomatic dialogue on issues of maritime security. The China-Indian Ocean Forum reinforces a client-patron dynamic between China and Indian Ocean littoral states, whereas IORA is a democratic forum fostering dialogue on issues of common interest.
Defence.in published on 6 December 2023 an article titled "To Increase Its Influence in Indian Ocean Region, China Will Host the Second IORF Meeting."
The China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), a branch of the Communist Party of China, will host this week the second meeting of the Indian Ocean Region Forum (IORF). At the first meeting of the IORF in 2022, nineteen nations attended, including seven from Africa: Kenya. Mozambique, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Djibouti.
India, which leads the 23-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), has not been invited to the IORF. The Chinese forum appears to be an effort to counter the influence of the IORA in the Indian Ocean.
China Brief published on 5 November 2021 an analysis titled "China's Vocational Education Workshops Seek to Strengthen Relations with Africa" by Conor McCutcheon, Savannah Billman, Johnsen Romero, and Merle Kartcher.
China established ten Luban Workshops in Africa from 2019 to 2021. The vocational and technical equivalent of Confucius Institutes, the Luban Workshops seek to train young African professionals with Chinese funding and cooperation.
The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) published in October 2021 a publication titled "China's Lending Landscape and Approach to Debt Relief" by Marina Rudyak and Yunnan Chen.
This is a useful guide to Chinese financial and lending institutions and their approach to debt relief. It helps remove some of the mystery behind China's development finance program.
