Conference PaperAuthors: Shi, Xuefei; Hoebink, Paul (2019)
This article examines the role of subnational actors in China’s foreign
aid. It applies the terms of ‘decentralized cooperation’ and ‘twinning’
into the analysis of China’s aid architecture, drawing a connection
between aid and domestic politics. With evidence from East Africa, it
argues that it is the endogenous twinning mechanism and the deep
involvement of subnational actors that make Chinese aid structurally
distinct from those of other donors, particularly in the area of health,
agriculture and education. It finds that the involvement of subnational
actors brings in more resources for the sustainability of China’s
aid programs, while the multiple faces and institutional ... 
