Written evidence submitted by the Institute
of Development Studies China Group
CHINA—NEW
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
1. China's rapid and sustained economic
growth over the past 20 years has put it on the threshold of becoming
a major influence on thinking, policy and practice in international
development. First, it has many development success stories to
share with the rest of the world—donors and recipients alike.
Second, China's emerging power is allowing it to expand its engagements
in development cooperation. Because of its singular development
path China's development cooperation promises to be different
from the West's. And because so many of China's development successes
(and failures) are freshly experienced, China's brand of development
cooperation has the potential to resonate more strongly with countries
in the developing world.
2. Critical questions for the current discussion
include: how will the emergence of China as a major development
actor challenge or affect the practice of international development?
How ready is the Chinese development policy and research community
to document and share "what works" with the global community
as well as to absorb what the global community has to offer? And
how can the global community best learn from China to promote
mutual development objectives?
3. With China's rapid growth turning it
into a middle income country, the case for direct development
assistance to China is weakening. Many donors and development
actors are reducing their engagement at precisely the moment when
China's influence on and potential contribution to development
policy and practice is set to become hugely significant, creating
the need for alternative strategic forms of engagement. China
will become increasingly vital for international development in
at least four ways:
(a) China's own development experience—past
and future—holds lessons for other countries on, for example,
the role of the state and market in promoting growth and reducing
poverty; the design and delivery of affordable services; and managing
the social and environmental costs of rapid growth.
(b) China's engagement with low income economies,
as trade partner, investor or producer, has direct implications
for the development paths of these economies. This is particularly
apparent in the massive expansion of China's economic activity
in Africa, but applies equally to the Mekong Delta and Latin America.
Such direct engagement provides a driver of growth for such economies,
as well as an alternative "model" of development.
(c) China is a potential source of global public
goods that are particularly relevant for the developing world,
for example in technology development (eg energy and health).
It plays an increasingly influential role in setting international
norms and standards that affect development (eg trade, climate,
extraction, employment standards, financial flows and security);
and is a critical partner in the development of new governance
institutions regulating issues from climate change to trade, finance
and security.
(d) China is emerging as an increasingly important
agent of development cooperation, but one that does not conform
to OECD norms.
THE UK, DFID AND
CHINA
4. The UK government, through various institutions
including DFID and the newly established RCUK, is seeking ways
to develop and deepen partnerships with relevant Chinese institutions
around this important agenda of China's role as a development
actor on the world stage. In our view, DFID has been proactive
in taking on many of these issues. It has been a major player
over the past decade in promoting thinking about development policy
and practice within China, supporting efforts to draw out lessons
from programme experience that can influence policy within China,
and more recently has played a leadership role in debates about
China's wider role as a development actor, particularly with respect
to Africa, and in promoting South-South dialogue and learning.
5. DFID's approach to its work in China
over the past several years has been relatively distinctive in
the context of other bi-lateral programmes. This was never a conventional
aid programme: it was built on a basis of knowledge transfer,
policy engagement and influence, rather than resource transfer.
It has recognised that the resources of any aid programme in China
are valued principally for the ideas, expertise and forms of technical
assistance or policy advice and insights that accompany them.
Chinese partners are generally clear about their own strategic
objectives and wish to use develop assistance for a range of purposes,
including access to new ideas, the space for testing out new models
or approaches, or leverage for particular approaches within their
institutions. DFID's programme has been underpinned by its institutional
focus on poverty reduction—which has determined the "sectors"
for intervention; at the same time, the organisation has consistently
focused its efforts on the more difficult task of seeking a sustained
policy impact through its programmes in order to leave
a lasting legacy beyond the life of a particular intervention.
6. The winding down of the bilateral programme,
and the establishment of the RCUK office in Beijing, provides
an opportune moment for DFID, RCUK and other UK government agencies
to consider new ways that that the wider international development
community can engage with China to foster productive collaboration.
It is a timely moment to reflect on the nature of the overall
UK government presence and relations with China with respect to
development issues, and how this can best be organised institutionally.
It is particularly important to start considering how working
with China can help DFID in support of its poverty reduction mandate
in other low income countries.
LESSONS FROM
AND FOR
CHINA: DOMESTIC
DEVELOPMENT AND
POVERTY REDUCTION
7. There is much to learn from China's recent
development experience, while China—despite transforming
its economy in an astoundingly short period—continues to
face major challenges in reducing poverty and promoting equitable
and sustainable growth. The argument that growth is the primary
solution to poverty and, in consequence, development assistance
should be focused on slow-growing countries, needs to be critically
considered with respect to China—both in terms of what China
can learn and what it can teach. Domestic inequalities and social
tensions, internal or international crises (financial, inflationary,
etc), could quickly undermine the developmental impacts of China's
growth—with profound implications not only for the poorest
within China but for the economy world wide, in particular other
low income countries which are increasingly bound with China's
economy.1
8. The importance of mutual learning builds
on the focus of DFID's bilateral programme, described above. The
exchange of ideas, technology and expertise remain valuable both
to China as it continues to address development challenges; as
well as to western donors in creating an opportunity to understand,
learn from and work with China in other low income countries.
It also provides a basis for fostering more direct south-south
learning and engagement, something to which DFID's Beijing office
has demonstrated commitment.
9. Continued engagement is therefore essential
both to foster a deeper understanding by the UK and other OECD
or donor countries of China's own development challenges and policy
constraints; and to enable appropriate policy transfer, technology
development and the sharing of lessons. In this respect, the recent
DFID review of research priorities highlighted several critical
issues in relation to the sustainability of China's domestic development,
and to the achievement of MDGs and production of global public
goods in areas such as climate change, agriculture and food production,
and human and animal health to counter the threat of global pandemics.2
Strengthening collaboration and capacity in these areas—whether
through joint research or practical interventions—are important
modalities for continued engagement in the absence of a bilateral
development programme. Working out appropriate cross-ministerial
institutional mechanisms for coordination among relevant government
agencies—both in Beijing and London—will also need
careful consideration especially in the light of a reduced DFID
presence in China.
WORKING FOR
POLICY IMPACT:
DFID'S HEALTH
PROGRAMMES IN
CHINA
10. A strong example of how DFID's programming
has had policy impact can be seen in the Health Programme, with
which IDS researchers have been closely involved. During 10 years
of engagement with China's health sector, DFID has contributed
to the development of policies that address the health-related
problems of the poor. The most note-worthy contributions were
to the development of practical strategies for improving access
to medical care by the poor and to the establishment of effective
cross-sector strategies for addressing the epidemic of HIV and
AIDS. In the process, DFID established a good reputation as a
leader in the sector and as an effective partner. How did it achieve
this?
11. One important factor was the way DFID
began its engagement with the health sector by linking closely
to a large World Bank-funded rural health development and reform
project. This enabled DFID to become familiar with realities in
poor counties and with the difficulties of implementing major
changes. It also enabled it to work closely with officials of
national and local governments and with experts in research and
policy institutes with an interest in health system reform. Over
10 years, the project team tested practical strategies for improving
the performance of the health sector in poor rural areas. As policy
priorities changed, the project addressed a number of issues of
particular concern to the government. This project achieved some
remarkable outcomes, including a 40% fall in maternal mortality.3
It also experimented with the establishment of a health safety
net for the very poor. This experience became particularly important
when a new political leadership came to power and shifted the
priority in favour of the rural poor. The demonstration that the
health safety net intervention was successful in channelling funds
to very needy poor people was persuasive to senior political leaders,
who quite quickly decided to establish a similar national programme.
12. This experience has had several benefits
for the UK. First, it enabled DFID officials to establish good
working relationships with officials in several ministries including
Health, Civil Affairs, Finance and Reform and Development. Second,
it has given the UK a high reputation as an agency that bases
its support on a thorough understanding of the challenges of managing
rapid change in poor counties. Third, the experience of managing
a partnership with Chinese government officials for implementing
a major project as part of the Western China Development Project
has provided a good foundation of experience upon which to build
similar collaborations in Africa. Finally, it has provided opportunities
for British and Chinese technical and research organisations to
establish partnerships that could become very important in future
years.
13. There are good reasons for the UK to
continue to build its partnership with the Chinese health sector
in support of its ongoing reforms. The Chinese Government has
recently negotiated another World Bank loan, at commercial rates,
and has been eager to include the UK in the project partnership.
This is not principally because of the modest amount of grant
funding that DFID will provide. It reflects the degree to which
the relevant government departments have valued the partnership
with DFID. There are also potential benefits to the UK in maintaining
an involvement in the health sector of this very large and rapidly
developing country in terms of building inter-governmental cooperation
and establishing a variety of Sino-British partnerships.
CHINA AND
CLIMATE CHANGE
14. UK-China engagement can help bring both
collaborative expertise and an international perspective to bear
on crucial gaps in knowledge and analysis on climate change. Building
on strong national capacities, IDS-China collaborative research
work funded by DFID and the European Commission to date has demonstrated
the value of improving China's own analysis of climate change
issues. Crucially, it has situated these efforts in an international
and developmental context, in areas relating to the mitigation
of greenhouse gases, assessing impacts of climate change, and
adaptation to current and future climatic impacts.
15. Our experiences lead us to suggest that
a UK strategy to engage with China on climate change is internationally
beneficial, and should be founded upon:
(a) The demand for international collaborative
expertise from Chinese researchers and policy makers: Such
demand has been elaborated through collaboration to date, China's
national and regional climate change and energy policies, and
fora including the China National Expert Group on climate change,
and the recent DFID research scoping exercise in China. IDS collaboration
to date has clearly demonstrated the value of international collaboration
in providing existing national expertise with exposure to new
ideas, methods, and practices.
(b) China's potential contribution to the
avoidance of dangerous human interference in the global climate
system: Demonstration and analysis of relatively small changes
to factors determining China's emissions pathway have the potential
to leverage large contributions to the international effort, both
through China's size and growth, and replication in other countries.
(c) Focusing on the linkages between climate
change, growth and poverty reduction: China's engagement with
the development studies field remains limited, despite the potentially
significant contribution of understanding its experiences for
the processes of growth and poverty reduction elsewhere. Engaging
climate change work with these topics will be crucial to reducing
the negative impacts of climate change and seizing opportunities
for poverty reduction presented by efforts to tackle its cause
and effect.
(d) The international application of national
research, policy and practice outside China: China can contribute
significantly to efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions
and adaptation climate change impacts outside its national boundaries.
The potential transfer of experiences, technology and technical
and financial assistance to other countries.
16. Our work, experience and understanding
suggest that such engagement will require a coordinated approach
from across different departments of Her Majesty's Government.
DEFRA already engages through the Sustainable Development Dialogue
and collaborative research funding, and the role of the Research
Council UK (RCUK) office in Beijing will be crucial in facilitating
ongoing climate change research linkages. The Foreign Office and
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform will
also have important roles to play.
17. However, in order to engage on the areas
outlined above, there remains an ongoing need for in-country engagement
that bears on development aspects of climate change, both within
China and in other parts of the world. This function is unlikely
to be supported by other government departments or existing RCUK
research linkages alone, which have tended to focus on UK-China
relations and physical science aspects of climate change respectively.
Ongoing DFID presence in China as part of a coordinated HMG approach
will therefore be a crucial if the significant opportunities presented
by China for global public benefits and poverty reduction are
to be realised.
AFRICA AND
GLOBAL PUBLIC
GOODS: CHINA
AS A
DEVELOPMENT ACTOR
18. China's increasingly active role in
the development arena, with respect to both its increasing influence
in Africa and its increasing importance for global governance
raises important issues. What China does has impacts which are
of concern to Her Majesty's Government. The Government and the
European Union need to engage effectively with China as part of
their strategies for realising their development objectives.
19. China has an increasing presence across
the developing world through its trade, investment finance and
aid. China's rapidly expanding involvement in Africa has been
much criticised in the West, but hard evidence of what China is
doing and why is not easy to find. DFID's Beijing office has sought
to increase its knowledge of China's development programmes through
financing research in both the UK and sub-Saharan Africa. It has
also taken initiatives to learn more from China's own experiences
of poverty reduction and to promote south-south learning. DFID's
presence in China and its potential to act as a focal point for
numerous initiatives to strengthen contact between Chinese researchers
and policy makers and their UK counterparts provides a basis for
the long-term relationship building that is essential for collaborative
research with Chinese researchers and institutions and for building
the capacity to inform Chinese policy making. The increasing UK
research presence in China through the RCUK office is important
here.
20. China's influence on the production
of global public goods in areas such as climate change negotiations,
animal and human health, and trade is also increasingly evident.
The UK government and the European Union are engaging with China
on many of these issues. A strong presence in Beijing provides
a basis for the frequent and extended contact that enable greater
insights into Chinese motivations and concerns, on the one hand,
and opportunities to shape thinking in China on the other. At
the same time, the credibility of the UK as a partner in dialogue
with China has to be based on concrete advantages that can be
offered to the Chinese in areas such as technical cooperation
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the fields of energy,
transport and construction. This suggests that a continued UK
government presence in Beijing will be important. While DFID may
no longer be the most appropriate institutional mechanisms for
organising this engagement, the role currently played by DFID
needs to be maintained.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
21. By way of conclusion, we highlight the
issues presented in developing the vision and organisation of
a new style of "development" relationship. China's graduation
from low income aid recipient poses distinctive opportunities
because of the country's huge importance for the global economy
and particularly for many developing countries, as well as its
growing role as a donor or development actor. At the same time,
the relationship with China as a donor will obviously differ for
the foreseeable future from those among existing DAC partners.
What a future UK development partnership with China should look
like, how it should be organised, and how the transition might
take place are questions that will need careful thought by the
government and other donors.
22. DFID has clearly played an important
role in China as the UK's leading agency coordinating across a
range of inputs on development. In the absence of (or with a down-scaled)
bilateral programme, many of the roles and functions currently
undertaken by DFID will need to be organised differently but without
losing the strong government linkages and relations built through
the current programme. Inter-agency or Ministry coordination will
be important to ensure that key development issues remain on the
agenda of bi-lateral relationships across a range of issues such
as trade, environment and technology development.
23. Such coordination may be further complicated
in the absence of a clear "development sector" in China,
where the actors and interests are fragmented and currently there
is probably limited policy coherence around an international development
agenda. Considering the future shape of such a relationship might
lead to the strategic identification of, and capacity investment
in, key institutions (whether government agencies, think tanks
or academic institutions) that might emerge as key development
actors.
24. Finally, in pursuing an agenda of engaging
with China in pursuit of global development objectives, the UK
government should seek ways to work more closely with its European
neighbours, and through the EU. China's interests, size and the
scale of its impact mean that it increasingly considers the EU
as the appropriate interlocutor on many global issues and increasingly
looks to the EU to counterbalance relations with the US.
REFERENCES:
1 Humphrey, J "Where does China Fit in the
Bottom Billion Narrative?" IDS In Focus Issue O3 Concern
for the Bottom Billion March 2008 Brighton: IDS.
2 China Development Research Priorities: Report
on Consultations for DFID's Global Research Strategy 2008-2013.
Prepared for DFID by IDS, Brighton.
3 "Improving maternal health—lessons
from the basic health services project in China" DFID Briefing
January 2008 and "Partnerships for development—lessons
from a health project in China". DFID Briefing Forthcoming.
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