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21 August 2024

What the U.S. Can Learn from the Chinese Development Playbook

Leah Kieff

In what has come to be referred to as the Great Power Competition (GPC), malign, revisionist powers, like the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia, challenge nations and institutions across the globe. As FBI Director Christopher Wray said in 2020, “China is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to become the world’s only superpower by any means necessary.” Extensive, well-documented, publicly available, year-over-year evidence exists, ranging from intellectual property theft to data-collection efforts to transnational repression, which together paint a clear picture that the PRC is a direct threat not only to the United States but to all liberal nations.

The GPC demands revisiting the way the United States engages with the world, including the way we deploy foreign aid. As of 2019, the United States was the largest donor of foreign aid in the world. Even though foreign aid accounts for approximately 1 percent of the U.S. federal budget as of 2019, it still represents a key component of the diplomatic and economic aspects of U.S. power. The United States should learn from the PRC’s effectively matrixed investments, leveraging of PRC firms, and security stipulation. By learning from these three key elements that the PRC does effectively, the U.S. can make the 1 percent go much further.

Aid Should Follow National Security Aims

In 2013, the PRC launched a global program called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This initiative, sometimes referred to as a “modern-day Silk Road,” weaves together policy, trade, people, and financial institutions with an emphasis on infrastructure development. But, although the BRI was marketed as an attempt to create secure trade routes and economic opportunities worldwide, it often involves China investing in foreign countries in ways that benefit China more than the host countries. The PRC’s link of economic and geopolitical goals in this effort is a reminder of the profit that can be captured through matrixed investment.

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