Is Unconditional Foreign Aid Necessarily Harmful? China's Foreign Aid and Human Rights in Africa

Zhiyuan Wang

《The China Review An Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China》 23卷3期 (2023/08) Pp. 101-130

摘要

This article evaluates how China's foreign aid affects human rights in Africa. Using the fixed effects model to analyze a data set on China's aid from 2000 to 2013, this research finds: (1) in the African recipient states China's aid exhibits virtually no negative and statistically significant impact on physical integrity rights, (2) it does not discourage conditional aid inflows, and (3) it fails to offset the positive human rights effects of conditional aid. The findings are robust to various econometric estimators, alternative model specifications, and multiple human rights measures. Overall, China's aid shows no sign of systemically weakening basic human rights protection in Africa.