A Cautious New Approach

The first statement above is extracted from an interview with China's incumbent ambassador to the United States (US), former Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, at the 24th Post Pacific Islands Forum Dialogue in Auckland in August 2012 (Liu & Huang, 2012). The second statement is taken from the outcome list of the eighth China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing in June 2016 (Xinhua, 2016).
A comparison of these two quotations, both representing China's official discourse, reveals a puzzling message. While insisting that there are substantial differences between Chinese foreign aid and Western aid, China is now committed to conducting development cooperation with the US. Notable questions follow immediately: Why is China willing to work with the US on aid delivery when the rivalry between the two is becoming more visible (e.g. in Asia and the Pacific)? What are China's attitudes towards cooperation with other traditional donor states and United Nations (UN)
agencies? Is cooperation becoming a common phenomenon between China and traditional donors in the development realm? Some may argue that China has adopted reform and opening-up policies since the 1970s and that its relationship with Western nations has already been greatly improved. However, this argument is too general. It can neither explain why China conducts cooperation with Western nations in some areas
rather than others, nor why China and Western nations will cooperate in the area of aid delivery while mutual mistrust lingers. These questions outlay the research theme of this book: Chinese foreign aid, especially trilateral aid cooperation.
[Acton: 2020]

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