The sudden closure of the US' foreign aid agency offers China opportunities to grow its soft power in the Global South, Chinese officials say, while warning that Beijing's influence should not be overestimated.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced the shutdown of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington's principal agency for global humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
The USAID website is offline and hundreds of senior staff have been put on leave, leaving grants in jeopardy amid a cost-cutting campaign driven by billionaire Elon Musk. The agency's closure was temporarily halted by a federal judge's order but its long-term future remains uncertain.
Beijing has not commented on the drama in Washington but a handful of Chinese officials in central government agencies related to foreign aid, commerce and economics said it was an opportunity for Beijing to grow its influence abroad.
"The retreat of USAID will benefit Beijing in promoting its image and building up its footprint in the developing world," an economic official said, declining to be named because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
An aid official agreed, saying Beijing would gain room to project its influence if USAID ceased to exist.
"The international community would give more attention to China's foreign aid," the official said.
The economic official said China's state-owned companies would also play their part in the developing would as soft power influence shifted "inevitably" from the US to China.
USAID was set up in 1961 by then-president John F. Kennedy to partly expand American soft power and counter the Soviet Union's influence.
Over decades, USAID spent billions in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia to support health, education and human rights projects.
It has continued to be funded, in part to counter China's growing influence.
US Senator Chris Coons said the agency's closure would be "a gift to China … a gift to our adversaries around the world".
China's equivalent of USAID, the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), was launched in 2018 and assumed the foreign-aid portfolios of the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce.
CIDCA's structure was partly inspired by USAID and was seen as necessary as China pushed forward the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a source familiar with the Chinese relief agency.
The initiative is Chinese President Xi Jinping's flagship infrastructure investment project and has much the same footprint in the developing world as USAID.
In an interview with Phoenix TV on Wednesday, CIDCA vice-chairman Hu Zhangliang did not refer to the United States directly but said: "We will not behave like some countries that leave aid recipients feeling helpless, caught off guard, or unprepared for such situations."
Hu said China would increase investment in international development and upgrade its approach to foreign aid.
A commerce official said China would gain from the chaos created by Trump's new administration but its soft power influence should not be overestimated.
"The third world is hedging between both sides and wouldn't dare rely solely on China for fear of hard-handed policies from the US," the official said, adding that "China's influence is surely smaller than [that of] the US".