Strategic Corruption and Strategic Anti-Corruption: How are actors in the Global South dealing with US-China great power competition in the field?

For over two decades, OECD donors have viewed corruption primarily as an economic obstacle to development. China’s non-compliance with OECD DAC norms and its mingling of aid, commercial loans and investment were consequently framed as an economically opportunistic stance to help Chinese companies out-compete Western competitors. Nonetheless, Chinese development has been welcomed and has evolved into a critical source of foreign funding for many countries in the Global South. With the exacerbation of US-China competition for global influence, however, the focus has shifted to China’s alleged use of transnational corruption for geostrategic purposes – epitomised in Washington’s accusation of a targeted “weaponisation of corruption”. For now, however, this debate appears to be primarily driven by American and European media and foreign policy circles. Against this backdrop, this paper will focus on local anti-corruption actors in recipient countries of Chinese development aid and investment and ask how they are dealing with the shifting framing of transnational corruption. To what extent is the securitisation of corruption reflected in local discourses? Is it seen as a chance to facilitate mobilisation or as an unwelcome politicisation of the issue? And in how far is China reacting to US accusations by adjusting its development approach or its communication in key target countries of its “Belt and Road Initiative”, especially in light of Beijing’s recent initiative for a “Belt and Road to Integrity”? To address these questions, the paper will rely on a combination of quantitative media content analysis and actor interviews with anti-corruption activists in selected countries. The likely selection of country cases (based on regional diversity as well as facility of (remote) access) will include Kenya, Nigeria, and Indonesia. Interviewees are recruited based on a previous study on Chinese development policies conducted for the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International and its local chapters.