China's Humanitarian Aid and Efforts to Engage in International Humanitarian Assistance

With the emergence of non-traditional donors in development cooperation, there have been debates on the expected roles of non-traditional donors among the policymakers and scholars in the field of development cooperation. Among them, China has gained attention because of its rising power and influence in global economics and politics. This article aims to facilitate the understanding of international humanitarian assistance and to identify the overview of China’s humanitarian assistance in terms of backgrounds, trends, and size. It can be possible to identify the priorities of its humanitarian assistance and to predict the ways for cooperation with international society. Still, criticisms have been raised in China’s humanitarian assistance with Chinese characters, covering the foreign aid policy of China. However, the international society welcomes the efforts of China to engage in the common efforts of humanitarian assistance and expects more coordination and harmonization of humanitarian assistance. By the strong support of the UN and OECD, the harmonized efforts for the collective outcomes and innovative financing for humanitarian assistance have been emphasized. Analyzing the features of China’s humanitarian aid, this article concludes with the suggestions and the recommendations as follows. As a responsible rising power, it is highly expected for the Chinese government to actively engage in international humanitarian assistance in accordance with the agreed guidelines of international society. In line with its own strategic preparedness in the establishment of the Chinese International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) and emphasis on international cooperation, this article suggests more coordinated efforts, especially in the form of trilateral cooperation in the end.