How the African Public Views China＇s Aid to Africa

As a vital part of China's foreign relations,China's aid to Africa has scored great achievements.Based on data from the Afrobarometer Survey in 2010 and data from the database of China's aid to Africa in 2000-2010 co-created by the US Center for Global Development and AidData,this paper dissects the macro-and micro-level determinants of the African public's perception of the effectiveness of aid from China through an empirical analysis.As descriptive statistics reveal,the African public has a highly positive view of aid from China despite country differences.According to our further analysis of a multilevel model,aid recipients with higher levels of democracy and economic development have a more favorable view of aid from China,while the size and sector of aid from China are not correlated with public favorability.At the micro-level,age,gender,education,race and media consumption are positively correlated with the public perception of aid.In conclusion,China must refocus its future aid programs on livelihood and welfare that directly benefit local people,rather than simply increasing the amount of aid.In delivering its commitments to Africa,China must also attach importance to public communication and "telling the China story " in its international affairs to improve its national image and gain more recognition by the African people.

China's Aid to Africa:Characteristics,Its Role and Challenges ahead

Started from 1956,China's aid to Africa has been playing a very significant role for strengthening Sino-African ties as a whole.Generally speaking,take "the reform and opening-up" policy started from late 1970s as a line of demarcation,China's aid policy to Africa can be divided into two periods in the half century.The driving force of China's aid policy before the line was to strengthen the diplomatic and political ties with African countries.The focus of China's aid policy after the line is to seek mutual economic cooperation and common development.Comparing with the Western approaches,the major characteristics of China's aid policy to Africa are mainly three:the aid is provided with no strings attached,and emphasizing on bilateral aid projects rather than multilateral system,strong focus on "hardware projects" such as physical infrastructure construction rather than "software projects" like research and capacity building.In general,China's aid to Africa has generated effective results and helped a lot for China's involvement in Africa.However,it is also facing new challenges at the moment and future.