Development assistance has long been an effective and powerful foreign policy tool, with major powers like the U.S. and China using development engagement to not only achieve their own security and economic outcomes, but also create opportunities for development partners.
Yet for developing countries, U.S.-China competition is not an abstract geopolitical struggle—it’s a daily reality that shapes infrastructure, trade, and financial stability. Whether great powers choose to coordinate, compete, or act in parallel has a profound impact on the options available to developing countries and the effectiveness of global development efforts. And rather than choosing sides in an era of geopolitical competition, most governments in the Global South seek to engage both powers in ways that meet their national development needs.
This project by the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) examines how stakeholders in Africa and Southeast Asia view U.S. and Chinese development engagement—what works, what doesn’t, and what they want from external partners. Through extensive direct dialogues by a small team of prominent Chinese and American development experts, ASPI engaged with regional officials, economists, and development practitioners to capture their unfiltered perspectives on aid, investment, and economic partnerships. The resulting report, “Development in an Era of U.S.-China Strategic Competition: Perspectives from the Global South,” provides an account of how recipient countries are responding to U.S.-China competition, what they believe would make development efforts more effective and sustainable, and what recipient governments actually want from the two major powers.
This website serves as a resource, offering the full report along with a recorded interview with the authors, written commentary from development experts in the U.S., and China, and contributions from regional experts who participated in the dialogues.
We invite you to explore the findings, listen to the voices of those shaping development on the ground, and consider how global development engagement can advance in a turbulent geopolitical landscape.
Development assistance has long been an effective and powerful foreign policy tool, with major powers like the U.S. and China using development engagement to not only achieve their own security and economic outcomes, but also create opportunities for development partners.
Yet for developing countries, U.S.-China competition is not an abstract geopolitical struggle—it’s a daily reality that shapes infrastructure, trade, and financial stability. Whether great powers choose to coordinate, compete, or act in parallel has a profound impact on the options available to developing countries and the effectiveness of global development efforts. And rather than choosing sides in an era of geopolitical competition, most governments in the Global South seek to engage both powers in ways that meet their national development needs.
This project by the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) examines how stakeholders in Africa and Southeast Asia view U.S. and Chinese development engagement—what works, what doesn’t, and what they want from external partners. Through extensive direct dialogues by a small team of prominent Chinese and American development experts, ASPI engaged with regional officials, economists, and development practitioners to capture their unfiltered perspectives on aid, investment, and economic partnerships. The resulting report, “Development in an Era of U.S.-China Strategic Competition: Perspectives from the Global South,” provides an account of how recipient countries are responding to U.S.-China competition, what they believe would make development efforts more effective and sustainable, and what recipient governments actually want from the two major powers.
This website serves as a resource, offering the full report along with a recorded interview with the authors, written commentary from development experts in the U.S., and China, and contributions from regional experts who participated in the dialogues.
We invite you to explore the findings, listen to the voices of those shaping development on the ground, and consider how global development engagement can advance in a turbulent geopolitical landscape.