Young Researcher Workshop: Chinese Economic Influence in Regional International Organizations

Chinese Economic Influence in Regional International Organizations

Speaker: Alicia Chen, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Stanford University

How does China use development finance to gain influence in international organizations? I contend that China exerts influence in regional rather than Western institutions like the United Nations. Leveraging the exogenous rotation of ASEAN and African Union Chairmanship, I estimate the effect of regional leadership on Chinese commitments. Results suggest that Chinese projects are politically motivated only when the lending and recipient entities are linked to the Chinese and host governments. Governments that assume Chair receive 8 times more commitments from Chinese government agencies relative to non-chair years, a $135 million increase for the average project. In contrast, there is no evidence to suggest that China’s commercial banks act as agents of Beijing. Moreover, I find a robust null relationship between temporary UN Security Council status and Chinese finance, unlike established findings about Western donors. These results underscore the importance of considering the specific actors involved in China’s economic engagement.

About the Workshops

The SCCEI Young Researcher Workshops are a bi-weekly series of presentations from scholars around campus who are working on issues related to China’s economy and institutions. The aim of the series is to bring together young scholars by providing a platform to present new research, get feedback, exchange ideas, and make connections. Each session features a single presenter who may present a new research plan, share results from preliminary data analyses, or do a trial run of a job talk or conference presentation. The Workshop Series is an opportunity to give and receive feedback on existing research, get to know other researchers around campus who are working on or in China, and be a testing ground for new ideas, data, and presentations.

Workshops are held every other Thursday from 1 - 2 pm. Afternoon refreshments will be provided! 

Visit the Young Researcher Workshops webpage for more information on the content and format of the series and to learn how to sign up to present.