Samenvatting

The differences between Chinese aid and traditional aid can be found in all aspects of the traditional and Chinese aid policies. Significant differences have been illustrated in its history, principles and in the impact on the recipient countries. The landmarks in the historical development of the Chinese and traditional aid policies have developed the aid policies as we know them today. For example, with the strong demand for democracy from the West in the 1980s, the Chinese and African leaders found each other to co-operate. In the periods when co-operation between the West and China was difficult, the African-Chinese relations faced
some strong challenges. Due to several embargoes imposed on China by the West, China felt obliged to expand its horizon in order to diminish its dependency on the West, resulting in strengthened relationships with several African nations. In comparison to the Chinese aid system, the traditional aid system arose from
a history between mostly European and African nations, the colonial era.
The main differences between the Chinese and traditional aid systems are the principles and preconditions.
The characteristics of the main principles of the traditional aid policies; good governance and the Comprehensive Development Framework, consist of conditions and demands from the traditional aid donors for the aid recipient countries. Some of these preconditions are highly optimistic and unreachable for those countries in need for aid. The Chinese foreign policy has three main vectors; aid, trade and foreign direct investment. The main vectors should officially benefit China's only principle Taiwan. However, also the
economic and diplomatic influences from several African nations are strongly affected. These influences should not be underestimated in the principles and methodology of the Chinese aid policy. The sovereignty and non-interference principle of the Chinese aid policy often benefit unsavoury regimes. In contrast to traditional donors, the promotion of good governance and human rights is not an aim of the Chinese foreign policy.
Furthermore, the differences between the aid policies also affect the impact on the recipient countries. The main difference in the impact on the economy of the recipient countries is China's stimulation to develop an industry based economy. Traditional aid projects focus on various aspects of development, including health, education and economy, whilst Chinese aid projects mainly focus on economy and infrastructure.
What was expected to be a significant difference between the Chinese and traditional aid policies, the level of benefit for the donors is not that big of a difference after all. To clarify, China's constant quest for natural resources to feed its national economic growth is one of the main fundamentals of the Chinese foreign aid policy. China provides natural resource backed loans in order to feed the Chinese economy whilst developing some African nations. China's own benefit results from the lack of accounting for the needs and concerns of
the local citizens. Western countries/donors condemn the Chinese idea of mutual benefit while providing aid.
While condemning the donor benefit, the traditional donor does, at the same time, benefit from the aid projects they finance.