ScholarWorks@숭실대학교

초록

This study compares aid policy and motivation of the U.S. and China in Africa from the perspective of national interests and foreign policy. Following a realist perspective, we assume that donors pursue national interests via Official Development Assistance (ODA), and aid policy is fundamentally based on their foreign policy. Adopting a historical approach, we examine foreign policy of the U.S. and China and analyze their foreign and aid policy toward Africa. Based on our analysis, we highlight that the rise of the U.S. and Chinese aid to Africa in recent decades does not indicate a fundamental change in their foreign policy toward Africa. Indeed, the importance of Africa in terms of foreign policy of the U.S. and China remain as marginal. Besides, though the U.S. has been highly critical of Chinese aid policy for being 'exploitative,' we underline the similarity of aid motivation of the U.S. and China in Africa. We show that both the U.S. and China pursue commercial and economic interests via foreign aid in Africa. In particular, for both the U.S. and China, securing oil resource is the most important aid and foreign policy motivation in Africa. Lastly, we suggest that under a broad frame of foreign and aid policy in Africa, the U.S. and China could choose cooperation and than a conflictual relations mainly to secure their national interests, namely, commercial and economic interests.

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