ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the international aid system and its role in the international system of power relations in general and African development in particular. The international development aid system remains the most powerful and enduring structural force influencing development worldwide. The influence of the aid system is structured around financial transfers, institutional arrangements, and policy frameworks. The Chinese Government always bases itself on the principle of equality and mutual benefit in providing aid to other countries. The Chinese involvement in aid is certainly not a theatrical performance, but one that poses a challenge to the existing international system in fundamental. The international financial institutions (IFIs) within this system, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group and its sister regional development banks provide loans for financial stabilization. If China's engagement in the aid system can achieve this, it would have played a far greater role in restructuring the system than in simply changing the power relations in her interest.
