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Is Western overseas development aid (ODA) based on a different model from Chinese ODA?

The motivations for and implications of China's increasing foreign aid programs to other developing countries are a source of particularly fraught debate among Western experts and analysts, as they are seen to hold the key to correctly understanding Beijing's goals in the international arena.

Western foreign policy discourse tends to characterise China's current and increasing role as an international aid donor as a threat to peace, stability and security – the case of Sudan is a classic example.

But is Chinese ODA so different from the West's? Why/why not? Is it founded on different philosophical principles? Ideologies? Delivery systems? Notions of statehood and sovereignty? Historical perspectives of the international system?

Why does China do aid the way it does? Discuss!

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