Japan – China: Official Development Assistance as a Tool of Economic Interaction

Abstract

The paper deals with the outstanding role and implications of Japan’s ODA to the People’s Republic of China in the bilateral relations from the early 1980s till its termination in the 2000s. Being by far the biggest single provider of low-interest loans and grants to a state with a totally different political system Japan sought to achieve its own economic and political aims. The controversial nature of government financial flows from Tokyo to Beijing resulted in substantial economic gains (foreign trade and direct investment) and vice versa a disappointment in the political realm. The paper reveals peculiarities of Japan’s ODA to the PRC in the framework of international economic relations, its significance for the modernization of China’s industrial and social infrastructure, unparalleled conditions for receiving Japanese aid which were imposed by China’s authorities, the change of public opinion in Japan towards the problem, etc. The article also explores the current transformation of China from the status of leading recipient of Japanese assistance to Japan’s successful «competitor» as a donor of financial resources and technical assistance to the numerous nations of Africa, Southeast Asia and other regions

Keywords

• official development assistance
• ODA
• economic cooperation
• yen loans
• governmental grants
• developmentalism
• «human security»
• China
• Japan