Mutuality rather than aid in South-South Cooperation: A study of scholarship and training programs in China

• In Event: Aligning Institutional Strategy with International Collaboration

Proposal

South-South cooperation is generally regarded as a process by which two or more developing countries share their knowledge, skills, resources, and technical expertise to build capacity and pursue development objectives through collective efforts. For example, Cuba provided educational, medical, and technical training sessions to former Portuguese colonies in Africa; India set up technical and economic cooperation bases in partner countries; China established a series of agricultural demonstration farms in Africa to share its agricultural practices. It can be argued that technical cooperation and knowledge sharing are the pillars of South-South cooperation. However, of the studies of international aid to education, few consider the emerging powers in the Global South. The empirical research about emerging donors’ educational aid practice has also been marginalised in these discussions.
International aid as South-South cooperation is neither seeking donor countries’ dominance nor helping recipient countries out of altruism. The theories of soft power or postcolonialism cannot explain the emerging donors’ principles and practice comprehensively. Gift Theory’s exchange cycle of ‘giving-receiving-reciprocating’ in which each partner has its own pursuit of benefits, provides a new analytical angle that enabled us to understand the principles of solidarity and mutual benefit in South-South cooperation.
In this study, with qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, the authors firstly examine China’s international aid principles and policies set by the Chinese national government at the macro-level, and then take the training and scholarship programmes in China’s higher education institutions (HEIs) as a case to uncover different stakeholders’ perceptions of China’s international aid principles and educational aid practice at the micro level. The research questions are:
(1) How have the principles of China’s international aid changed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)?
(2) How do stakeholders involved in training and scholarship programmes in China’s HEIs perceive of China’s international aid principles and educational aid practice?
To address the first research question, the authors used data sourced from 17 government documents and archival records released to the public on the Chinese government’s official websites. By comparing China’s general aid principles across different historical contexts and summarizing the discursive characteristics of government documents related to China’s aid policies, we arrived at a comprehensive understanding of the factors that have shaped China’s international aid principles. We observed that while China focuses on ‘mutual’ or ‘cooperation’，a western agency such as USAID emphasised the development of aid-receiving countries, and prioritised the specific dimensions such as ‘education’ and ‘security’.
To address the second research question, the authors conducted the fieldwork investigation. We recruited 25 participants, including eight faculty members, eight administrators, and nine students. We found that all research participants, each of whom was a student from a partner country, a Chinese programme faculty member, or a Chinese administrator, acknowledged the terms ‘cooperation’, ‘development’, ‘win-win’, and ‘reciprocity’ in their understanding of China’s aid policies. By adopting the lens of Gift Theory, this study contributes to scholars’ understanding of international aid as a relationship of ‘giving–receiving–reciprocating’. In Gift Theory, international aid is not considered as one-way aid but as two-way interactions. The cornerstone of international aid is the friendly relationship and social bond established between aid donors and aid recipients. Aid donors do not ignore expected returns such as economic benefits. However, the returns, or acts of reciprocity, are not expected in the short term; rather, aid exchange emphasises mutual benefit through a combination of aid and cooperation that results in the establishment of a sustainable relationship. This explains the consistent unconditionality in Southern aid principles. Using the lens of Gift Theory, we argued that international aid is the act of creating mutual partnerships, rather than one-sided, benefit between donors and recipients. In conclusion, China’s international aid is the act of building mutually beneficial relationships. The mutuality is not exactly equal or symmetrical. However, this lack of symmetry does not negate the solidarity and relationship established between China and partner countries since they share a desire for mutual respect and mutual support.

Authors

• Xiaoying Jiang, Shandong University of Finance and Economics

• John D Holst, The Pennsylvania State University