Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the characteristics of China’s medical aid in the first wave of COVID-19. We find that China’s COVID aid does not deviate from the country’s past aid practices and is mainly defensive in nature to pacify the critics of its failure to contain the virus at the beginning.

Paper long abstract:

Since late February 2020, China has provided medical assistance on an unprecedented scale across the globe. While some observers have worried about the geopolitical implications of China’s COVID-19 aid, referred to as ‘mask diplomacy,’ no research has empirically assessed the allocation, design, and policy logic of China’s aid in this pandemic. Combining a new dataset on the global distribution of Chinese in-kind medical aid with government and news reports, we examine the characteristics of China’s aid in the first wave of the global pandemic. Our findings show that China’s COVID-19 aid does not deviate from the country’s past practices on foreign aid and is mainly defensive in nature to pacify the critics of its failure to contain the virus at the beginning. While demonstrating the constraints China faces in transforming its aid practices in the COVID-19 context, we call for more cooperation between China and traditional donors to better design development cooperation in the post-COVID era.