The Development Needs of Pacific Island Countries
6.
Other Development Actors’ Strategies for Development Cooperation with China
This section will outline recommendations that other development actors may consider when planning future development cooperation initiatives with China, and suggestions on how to engage more effectively with Chinese development assistance in the Pacific.
6.1.
Ownership
This is the most important principle to consider for the sustainability and success of any development cooperation project involving China. If the request does not come from the host government, the Chinese side will be unlikely to show interest in the project, as it violates the first principle of SSC. Compared with other BRICS nations, China has been reticent to engage in cooperative ventures with traditional donors, although there has been a sharp increase in the last few years. In part, this is because it lacks the linguistic and cultural advantages nations such Brazil or South Africa enjoy when implementing such projects in neighbouring countries. But largely it comes down to reluctance to be associated with what some see as a failed model of development assistance.88 This insistence on local ownership should be taken seriously. For example, interviewees expressed dismay that no Chinese representatives attended the regular donor coordination meetings in Port Moresby, co-chaired by UNDP and a traditional donor. It was, however, unlikely that anyone from the Chinese Economic Counsellor’s Office would attend the meeting, as it was not organized by an agency of the host government, and therefore not in line with the principle of ownership. Were the Department of National Planning and Monitoring or the Department of Treasury to organise such a roundtable, attendance would be more likely. The structure of other development actors’ strategies towards engagement with China adds to the challenge of realizing local ownership in the planning and implementation of development cooperation projects. Most have placed the responsibility of donor coordination with China with their Beijing offices. The head offices of other development partners should be realistic about what sort of engagement their Beijing office can manage with Chinese counterparts, who are also being approached by other traditional donors working in more strategically and economically significant regions, such as Africa and Latin America. Being overly focused on Chinese consent runs the risk of overlooking the Pacific representative partners. It is essential to have clear communication between Beijing, each partner’s headquarters, and offices in the Pacific. While this requires time and effort, it
88
Xiaofeng Zhang and Pengtao Li, “A Chinese Perspective on European Aid to Africa,” Chap. 5.1 in Neither Conflict, nor Comfort: The co-habitation of Chinese and Belgian aid in the D.R. Congo, ed. Ignace Pollet, Huib Huyse, Xiaofeng Zhang, Sylvain Shomba and Pengtao Li (Leuven: HIVA, 2011), 85-91.
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