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The Trump administration has cut billions of dollars in foreign aid. NPR's Fatma Tanis reports on how China is trying to fill that vacuum.
FATMA TANIS, BYLINE: The United States and China see foreign aid as a way to gain soft power influence. That means providing public services in low-income countries and engaging in people-to-people relations that can build cooperation over the long run. For a long time, China and the U.S. were operating on separate tracks with separate goals for their international aid. China saw itself as developing and focused on sending Chinese teams to countries to build infrastructure that would also boost its own economy.
The U.S. was a global leader in health and spent billions all over the world to combat poverty and disease. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, China shifted strategies, says Carrie Dolan, who studies Chinese health policy at William & Mary.
CARRIE DOLAN: We've seen China's approach really transitioning towards this soft power, great power competition. We've seen the quantity and the variety of aid just surged even further during the coronavirus pandemic.
TANIS: China stepped up what it calls small and beautiful projects to address hunger and poverty. In the past few years, it refurbished a maternity ward in Zimbabwe, sent medical equipment to Panama. Still, China couldn't really compete with the U.S. for global leadership on health, says Bryan Burgess, who tracks China's aid spending at William & Mary.
BRYAN BURGESS: They're doing short-term measures to win over hearts and minds. But they're not investing in the sort of infrastructure and sustainability that big diseases need to get eradicated.
TANIS: Since the Trump administration's overhaul of U.S. foreign aid, things are looking a bit different, says Jennifer Bouey with Georgetown University.
JENNIFER BOUEY: China is now thinking, OK, now the U.S. is retreating from U.N., retreating from WHO. And this is a time for China to build its global influence, dominating the international organizations, and at the same time, to have a platform to expand its economic footprint.
TANIS: In February, 2025, just as the Trump administration was dismantling USAID, China's aid agency said it would be doing more of the small and beautiful projects. In April, when a major earthquake hit Myanmar, China pledged $137 million in aid, compared to about $9 million from the U.S. In May, China announced a $500 million donation to the World Health Organization, on top of its yearly dues. Nadege Rolland is with the National Bureau of Asian Research. She says these moves have allowed China to posture as the adult in the room.
NADEGE ROLLAND: You're showing the face of a benevolent power that is responsible for mankind, basically, which aligns very well with Xi Jinping's vision for a world order that has China at the center of it.
TANIS: While its strategy might be changing, China still spent about the same overall on foreign aid as it did in previous years. Rolland says China won't be rushing to fill the gap left by the U.S.
ROLLAND: I don't think it's fully ready to take that role of a global health provider. And it's probably feeling the stones. That's a Chinese expression to say, we're advancing very prudently in that direction.
TANIS: One thing that's clear, Rolland says, is that China will try to increase its influence through foreign aid as the U.S. presence appears to wane.
Fatma Tanis, NPR News.
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