Three key shifts on development cooperation in China’s 2021 white paper

This January, China’s State Council, the country’s chief administrative authority, released a long-awaited update to its White Paper on development. The landmark document marks the culmination of a series of reforms on China’s approach to aid in the last decade, and follows on from two White Papers on foreign aid (first in 2011, then in 2014). It is also the first to be published following the formation of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) three years ago.