DonorscontributiontoChinasdevelopment-strategies,policiesandpractises.PDFVIP

Prof. Dr. Bettina Gransow (柯兰君), Freie Universität Berlin Redemanuskript (Multilateral Dialogue between China, Africa DAC Members and Multilateral Institutions on Development Partnerships Beijing, IPRCC, October 28, 2009) Donors’ contribution to China’s development - strategies, policies and practises Introduction It is my honour and my pleasure to contribute to this event, which marks a further step towards deepening cooperation and mutual understanding between China and the OECD/DAC. China started receiving official development assistance (ODA) as part of its reform and open door policy. Contributions began in 1979 with the partnership between the World Food Programme (WFP) and the People’s Republic of China, as a means of providing relief through food assistance, and the allocation by UNDP of 15 million US$ (Cicete s.a.). This was the beginning of the now thirty-year history of development cooperation between foreign donors and China. In my presentation, I will concentrate on four popular narratives on donors’ contribution to China, narratives regarding development, growth, poverty reduction and development partnership which I offer here as starting points for the subsequent discussion. Before presenting and analyzing these four narratives from the perspective of development cooperation in China as a mutual learning process, let me first share with you some insights into the volume and distribution of foreign aid in China. Volume and distribution of foreign aid in China According to OECD statistics, the total sum of ODA net disbursements (grants plus loans minus loan repayments) to China during the period 1979-2007 was 48.92757 billion US$. Out of this total sum of ODA disbursements, 20.46696 billion US$ was