China’s evolving humanitarian diplomacy: Evidence from China’s disaster-related aid to Nepal

Abstract

Engaging in disaster relief and, more recently, post-disaster reconstruction in developing countries with critical geoeconomic and geopolitical interests has become an increasingly regular and institutionalized component of China’s evolving humanitarian diplomacy over the past decade. Drawn upon novel evidence from China’s growing disaster-related humanitarian assistance to Nepal and unprecedented engagement in Nepal’s long-term post-earthquake rebuild since 2015, this article explores the dynamics behind China’s transforming humanitarian diplomacy. The findings of this article suggest that: 1) geopolitical and geoeconomic interests, represented by the Belt-and-Road Initiative, serve as a critical driver for the development of China’s bilateral partnership with other countries in the disaster sector; 2) long-term cooperation with underdeveloped countries like Nepal provides China, both government and non-state actors (NSAs), with an effective channel to engage with the international humanitarian community and to internalize humanitarian norms; 3) although humanitarian missions remain contingent and instrumental in China’s international relations, they are laying the foundations for a specialized humanitarian policy area with more relevant normative assets, more professional actors, and more sophisticated institutions; 4) NSAs, represented by private foundations and civil NGOs, have played active roles in the state-dominant cooperation in disaster management. This article also suggests that intensified geopolitical confrontations, such as military clashes between India and China along their disputed borders over the past year, would lead to a high degree of politicization of humanitarian missions and partnerships counter-conducive to humanitarian goals.