United States and Chinese foreign assistance and diplomacy: aid for dominance

Abstract

Foreign aid has long been a powerful instrument of global influence, shaping economic development, governance structures, and international alliances. This book offers the first systematic comparative analysis of how the United States and China—two great powers locked in strategic competition—deploy foreign aid and public diplomacy to advance their geopolitical ambitions. As China has risen from an aid recipient to a dominant donor, challenging the postwar global order long steered by the United States, this book interrogates the core question: How do US and Chinese foreign aid programs differ in their motivations, implementation, and impact? Drawing on extensive primary and secondary research, including government documents, elite interviews, and media analysis, this book presents a multidimensional framework for comparing US and Chinese foreign aid strategies across historical, political, and economic contexts. It examines the material resources, justificatory discourses, and political narratives that underpin their respective aid programs, shedding light on their competing efforts to shape global governance, economic dependencies, and the domestic politics of recipient states. By bridging the gap between international relations, development studies, and political economy, this book challenges conventional wisdom that portrays foreign aid as purely benevolent. Instead, it demonstrates how aid functions as a tool of statecraft, reinforcing power hierarchies while offering recipient states opportunities for agency and negotiation. This book is essential reading for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to understand the evolving dynamics of great power competition in international development.