Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT

Western media have lately tried to vilify China's foreign aid efforts, even coining the term "debt diplomacy" - a seemingly academic concept which is strange and aimed at attracting eyeballs - to suggest China's aid to other developing countries pushes those countries into debt traps. These unfounded claims originate from worries and anxieties over the West-led global development system.

This is not only due to fears and anxieties that the rise of China, India and other emerging countries might break the current aid rules, standards and power system established by the West, but also the irrational behavior of Western countries caused by the overall difficulty of the evolution of their own aid system.

Current Western aid is mainly through government-led bilateral aid. Another channel is multilateral aid for donations to regional development banks, such as the United Nations and the African Development Bank. The third is to actively support international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to carry out development projects in developing countries.

At present, all three channels are alienated by changes to the domestic social structure of developed countries and the development of their own bureaucracies, and they are all in danger of ending.

Government-led aid in Western developed countries has been affected by their domestic populism, thus causing a declining credibility in aid. Fierce geographic competition, the domestic political situations of donor countries, and the rise of nationalism and populism have led Western donor countries to use aid as a political tool. They only invest in areas that can help enhance their competitiveness and improve their national interests, which does not actually promote the development of the recipient countries.

The influx of immigrants has further exacerbated the protectionism wave in the US and Europe. The motivation of Western countries to provide aid for recipient countries will be driven by a need for power and influence rather than poverty reduction. International multilateral development institutions have lost sight of their purpose, resulting in frequent scandals.

The employees of international development agencies are composed of hundreds of thousands of elites. They are upper middle class with high incomes and bright futures for career development.

They can potentially get even higher positions in foreign affairs in their own countries after years of experience with international institutions, ending up as a large elite group starting to solidify and strengthen their own interests.

International NGOs lack accountability mechanisms and are bureaucracies. For example, Luanda, the capital of Angola, is the most expensive capital in the world. The high-rise buildings and local slums have formed a strong visual contrast. Of course, those high-consumption places are not built for local residents but are used to house experts from thousands of international NGOs each year.

These experts go to recipient countries to work, living in international hotels, and renting cars to conduct "inspections." They do not only receive large amounts of international funds, but can also apply for their governments' support via specific websites they set up in the name of aid. 

Other than that, they also ask recipient countries to fill in a variety of complicated documents, including project plans, appropriation applications, and evaluation reports. This is also the reason why more and more recipient states do not want international NGOs in their countries. The Western aid system was advanced when it was initially designed as it took into account many factors, such as complementarity between governments and the people, balance of power, accountability and supervision.

However, anything can be abandoned as time goes by if it does not learn from itself and adjust to changes, and the Western aid system is no exception. Bashing emerging countries will not help the West step out of the overall dilemma it is facing, and history will prove that.

The author is an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn


Newspaper headline: How can Western aid step out of predicament?