By Xu Hongqiang, Research Team on “The Belt and Road International Production Capacity Cooperation”, DRC

Research Report, No.273, 2020 (Total 6017) 2020-11-17

Abstract: Foreign aid is an important policy tool for a country to assume international responsibilities and carry out foreign exchanges. The main subjects, fields and ways of China’s foreign aid are highly consistent and complementary with the boosting of the Belt and Road Initiative. Consequently, foreign aid, diplomatic cooperation and business cooperation are regarded as three pillars bolstering the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative. In advancing the international production capacity cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road route, foreign aid has played a positive role, but there is still room for improvement. For instance, the goal and plan for foreign aid to support the international production capacity cooperation are unclear, the synergy between the two policies and relevant items pertinent to foreign aid and the Belt and Road Initiative needs to be further solidified, and tripartite cooperation projects need to be increased. It is necessary to clarify the main goals and key areas for foreign aid to drive the Belt and Road international production capacity cooperation, increase the proportion of production capacity cooperation in foreign aid, strengthen the mutual support between the two policies in management mechanism, cooperation mode and project implementation, and create a favorable international environment to enhance production capacity cooperation efficiency.

Keywords: foreign aid, the Belt and Road Initiative, international production capacity cooperation