Development Co‑operation Profiles: China, People's Republic of
Table of contents
The People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”) has been providing development assistance for decades. Its assistance initially focused on technical assistance and South‑South co-operation, taking a low profile in terms of China’s foreign policy priorities. The establishment of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) in 2018 and the 2021 white paper, China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era, marked a shift towards a more active foreign and development co-operation policy. This shift signalled a more consolidated domestic governance structure for development co-operation and reflected China’s ambition to strengthen its global role as a provider of foreign aid and development co-operation. More recently, amid what Chinese policy discourse characterises as a period of turbulence and change, China’s development co-operation has been inspired by the concept of a “global community of a shared future”, aiming for solidarity, win-win co-operation and global collaboration.
This profile presents verified data on China’s development assistance allocation. See the Development Co‑operation Profiles.
China’s international development co-operation is primarily guided by the 2021 white paper entitled China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era, which supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and articulates the principles guiding China’s policies in development co‑operation; and the 2021 Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid, which institutionalises CIDCA’s co‑ordinating role, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). On bilateral co-operation, the Belt and Road Initiative serves as a major platform, particularly for infrastructure connectivity and trade facilitation with the Global South. Within the institutional architecture, the Department of International Economic Affairs is the focal point for bilateral economic and technical co‑operation partners, as well as for triangular development co-operation projects.
China’s recent multilateral engagement in international development co-operation is framed around the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which was launched in 2021. The GDI positions development as a central pillar of global governance and seeks to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. At the United Nations, China established the Group of Friends of the GDI to mobilise political support for its implementation. According to China’s official statements, more than 100 countries have joined the Group of Friends.
The 6th Forum on China and International Development
The 6th Forum on China and International Development, entitled “Empowering the Global South for Strengthened Sustainable Modernization”, took place in December 2025. It was co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in China and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce of China (CAITEC/MOFCOM).
Since UNDP China first co-hosted the CAID Forum with CAITEC/MOFCOM in 2022, the forum has evolved into one of the key annual events in China’s international development co-operation sector. At the 2025 forum, the two institutions further solidified their collaboration by issuing a new “Statement of Intent (2026-2030)”, which will provide a framework for their ongoing partnership to facilitate knowledge generation and exchange events on international development co-operation for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The forum advanced in-depth exchanges through two thematic roundtable discussions. Roundtable I examined how empowerment-oriented development co-operation can support Global South countries in their sustainable development transitions, exploring diverse financing approaches and enhancing development impact through innovative partnerships beyond traditional aid modalities. Roundtable II focused on the role of knowledge generation and evidence-based approaches in enhancing country capacity and delivering context-specific development solutions in the Global South, emphasising the need for robust assessment frameworks to evaluate the long-term impacts of international development co‑operation on governance capacity, innovation systems and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Sources: OECD; and UNDP (2025), “UNDP and CAITEC co-host Forum on Empowering the Global South for Strengthened Sustainable Modernization”, https://www.undp.org/china/news/undp-and-caitec-co-host-forum-empowering-global-south-strengthened-sustainable-modernization.
According to OECD estimates, in 2024, China’s bilateral international development co-operation amounted to USD 3.5 billion, a 16% increase from 2023 in constant terms.1
China engages in triangular co-operation and has a strategic policy for engaging in the modality, elaborated in the white paper China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era. It focuses on tripartite projects to which China can contribute with its domestic experiences, aiming to enhance policy dialogue and knowledge exchange and advance co-operation with international organisations. The white paper indicates a strong focus on agriculture and public health.
Learn more about triangular co-operation.
The white paper China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era distinguishes between foreign aid and international development co-operation. Foreign aid, as defined in the 2021 Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid, refers primarily to grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans co‑ordinated by CIDCA (CIDCA, MFA and MOFCOM, 2021). International development co-operation refers to a wider set of instruments, including non-concessional financing and economic co-operation frameworks such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the GDI (Schwarz and Rudyak, 2023). Overall, more than 20 departments and agencies at the central government level are involved in the management and implementation of China’s international development co-operation. In addition, central agencies delegate certain operational responsibilities to provincial subsidiaries (Schwarz and Rudyak, 2023: 11).
As a key national entity in development co-operation, CIDCA is in charge of formulating strategic guidelines and policies for foreign aid; drafting country-specific aid policies; co‑ordinating and selecting foreign aid projects; signing foreign aid agreements with recipients; and oversight and evaluating projects. CIDCA is not an implementing agency; project implementation is mainly carried out by the MOFCOM’s subordinate agencies and specialised line ministries. Co-ordination between CIDCA and MOFCOM is governed by the 2021 Measures, which establish a division of responsibilities across the project cycle and require inter‑agency consultation at the project approval, budgeting, implementation and evaluation stages (CIDCA, MFA and MOFCOM, 2021).
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development placed a renewed emphasis on strengthening the effectiveness of all forms of development co-operation by upholding and elevating the Effectiveness Principles. Adherence to these principles is measured through the partner country-led monitoring exercise of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation. China participated in the 2023-2026 monitoring round through its reporting to one partner country, Cameroon, and its results can be found here.
Access the full list of providers of development co-operation at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA): en.cidca.gov.cn.
CIDCA, MFA and MOFCOM (2021), New Measures for the Administration of Foreign Aid by CIDCA, MFA and MOFCOM, http://china-aid-blog.com/2021/09/01/407.
CIKD (2025), China’s Progress Report on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Center for International Knowledge on Development, https://en.cikd.org/knowledge.
CIKD (2025), Global Development Report 2024, Center for International Knowledge on Development, https://en.cikd.org/knowledge.
CIKD (2025), Progress Report on the Global Development Initiative 2025, Center for International Knowledge on Development, https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zy/jj/GDI_140002/wj/202509/P020250928595521804956.pdf.
Government of China (2021), China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era, white paper, State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, http://en.cidca.gov.cn/2021-01/10/c_581228.htm.
Schwarz, R. and M. Rudyak (2023), “China’s development co-operation”, OECD Development Co‑operation Working Papers, No. 113, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2023/12/china-s-development-co-operation_ea34f6c2/2bbe45d2-en.pdf.
China has been one of the OECD’s five Key Partners since 2007.
China is an Adherent to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied.
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← 1. Based on data from the Chinese Ministry of Finance contained in the 2024 report on “Central Level General Public Budget Expenditure” available at: http://yss.mof.gov.cn/2024zyjs/202507/t20250716_3967955.htm. However, the available data provide neither detail on the scope of foreign assistance nor on aid by recipient country or on specific development projects. The estimates include data that are deemed comparable to official development assistance-like flows (the “foreign aid” and “international development co-operation” final accounts). AidData provides higher estimates for 2023 in its recently released report Chasing China: Learning to Play by Beijing’s Global Lending Rules.