One more great power
Last spring, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had employed more than 10,000 people delivering health, education, and development programs around the world.
In March, the U.S. was the only state in the United Nations General Assembly to vote against a resolution establishing an International Day of Peaceful Coexistence and an International Day of Hope. In a letter explaining its stance, the U.S. said it “denounces” the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This January, the U.S. left the World Health Organization. Also in January, the White House announced that the U.S. would leave 66 international organizations, including many UN bodies. One new study, out just this week, projects 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030.
Meanwhile, Chinese leaders have followed President Xi Jinping in calling economic development the “master key” of modern geopolitics. Xi has launched something called the Global Development Initiative, whose stated purpose is to promote “stronger, greener, and healthier global development.” Alongside it is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, channeling billions of dollars into infrastructure projects across the developing world.
As the United States retreats from global development, is China stepping into the breach? Or is something else happening?
Pritish Behuria is an associate professor at the University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute. Behuria says China has invested enormous sums in infrastructure and industry in developing countries—but it’s not poised to take over from the United States. Because while the Americans have suddenly slashed their aid programs, the Chinese have been pulling back too, if less conspicuously. What’s more, to secure lasting economic gains, developing countries need technological capacity, and China hasn’t been keen to share its know-how. So these countries have had to settle for installing Chinese solar panels rather than producing their own.
In the meantime, European and East Asian countries have also been cutting their aid budgets, which means the private sector matters more as a funder of development. Asset managers haven’t filled the hole governments left, but they carry more weight than they used to. The problem, Behuria says, is that most financiers think quarter to quarter—so they’re unlikely to back the long-term strategic investments developing countries need. But there might be other options …
Gustav Jönsson: How significant has the U.S. been in global development in recent decades?
