Research On Japan's Foreign Aid Policy And Management System

Foreign aid,as one of the most important diplomacy,plays an important role in bettering bilateral diplomatic relations,promoting international economic cooperation and cultural exchanges,enhancing domestic and international reputation and implementing global strategies.Since World War II,Japan has accumulated lots of foreign aid experience,from an emerging aid country to one of the major donating countries in the world,and its foreign aid policy and management system have been increasingly mature after several times of reform.China,which is also located in East Asia,has a similar historical and cultural background with Japan,and so the choice of recipient countries and fields of aid.Therefore,the study of Japan's foreign aid policy and the construction and reform of its management system can provide reference for the formation of China's foreign aid policy and the scientific construction of foreign aid management system.This paper takes time as the main line to summarize the evolution of Japan's foreign aid and its management system,which is mainly divided into three stages: institutionalization period,diversification period and politicization period.Since the beginning of the 21 st century,Japan has taken the Development Cooperation Charter as a programmatic document of foreign aid.It defines the objectives and priority areas of Japan's foreign aid,and set clear policy principles for the implementation of foreign aid projects by various departments.On the other hand,the Development Cooperation Charter makes it clear that the foreign aid management system with the ministry of foreign affairs as the coordination core and the international cooperation agency as the implementation core and other relevant departments cooperating.The ministry of foreign affairs of Japan plays a central coordinating role to enhance the efficiency of cooperation among the government departments concerned,while the international cooperation agencies are responsible for aid implementation,effectiveness evaluation,and cooperation with universities,private enterprises and non-governmental organizations.Japan's current foreign aid management system has many advantages from which China can learn a lot.First,a "pyramid-style" policy framework makes the division of responsibility clear and the aid efficiency greatly improved.Secondly,the openness and transparency of aid projects and related information is conducive to the correct and objective understanding of China's foreign aid to domestic people and that of other countries.Third,the government can play the role of "bridge builder" in foreign aid,providing a platform and opportunity for private economy to compete in an international market and thus benefiting a wider range of foreign aid groups.Last but not the least,universities equipping a large number of intellectual and scientific resources can play an important role in shaping the image of donor countries and enhancing their influence at the grassroots level in recipient countries,if they could widely participate in foreign aid.