Chinese aid to Pacific mapped

Transcript

It's hoped a new interactive map on China's aid to the region will dispel misunderstandings about the size of China's aid programme.

Philippa Brant of the Australian think tank, the Lowy Institute, has constructed the web-based tool out of her research into the amount and type of help China is providing Pacific countries.

She told Sally Round the map allows people to see China's involvement sector-by-sector in eight Pacific island countries.

PHILIPPA BRANT:  We know that China's aid programme is large and growing but the problem is that China doesn't publish data on how much aid it gives to the Pacific and Pacific Island governments themselves also don't provide this in any comprehensive way.  This has led to some misunderstandings and misperceptions about the size of China's programme.

SALLY ROUND:  How did you find out how much aid from China was going where, given as you say there is a lack of information?

PB:  It was a pretty significant research undertaking.  I draw on more than 500 sources.  Things like Pacific Island budget documents, a lot of Chinese language material like tender documents or project announcements on Chinese contract websites and then I cross-checked this across multiple sources.  I also conducted a number of interviews and site visits in the region.

SR:  How did you find getting co-operation from the Chinese on this?

PB:  It was a mixed response.  There is not much capacity in the Chinese system.  Those who manage the aid programme, certainly a couple of people who work in the Pacific, they don't actually have a lot of this data themselves in any kind of easy accessible way.  A number of Chinese officials I did reach out to though were quite helpful.

SR:  Why then this lack of transparency about what China is doing in the Pacific?

PB:  I think there are a couple of reasons for this.  I think firstly, transparency is not really a natural thing within the Chinese system itself.  It doesn't really have a strong culture of the collection of sharing of information, even within and between Chinese agencies.  As I mentioned there is also a lack of capacity within the bureaucracy to collate this data.  I think also there is some domestic considerations that the Chinese government has around it promoting and advertising the size of its aid programme given that there still are a large number of Chinese people living in poverty.  The aim of the map is that this information should be useful for government officials within the Pacific Islands, also within Australia and New Zealand, students and other researchers and policy-makers in general.

SR:  Can you explain how it actually works?       

PB:  It's an interactive map that provides information about all of the aid-funded projects that China has funded in the region from 2006 onwards.  You can sort the information by country, by the type of aid, whether it's a concessional loan or a grant, by the sector, education or health or infrastructure and also whether or not the project is completed or it's ongoing.

SR:  Was there anything glaring that came out of your research?

PB:  I think a couple of interesting things.  The first is that it seems that China's aid programme is on track to overtake Japan to become the third largest donor in the Pacific but the data has revealed that Australia still dominates very much at the regional level.  The interesting thing I think is that in some countries, the amount of Chinese aid is starting to rival that of traditional donors.  Between 2006-2013 China was actually the largest aid provider to Fiji and the second largest in Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands.