An old Chinese proverb: 摸着石头过河 "Cross the River by Feeling the Stones" - Confucius China is still a developing country, and until very recently, China was still receiving world aid from other countries. Hence, it has to be more pragmatic in how it gives aid. So, technically the support that China does not provide aid as such, but in a way that other countries would term as zero return loans or grants. Surprisingly, it reflects how other countries, especially Japan, helped China earlier in its most recent development. Japanese aid to China was linked to a natural resource that Japan needed, like Crude Oil, unprocessed minerals, etc. This relationship was inevitable as Japan needed resources desperately for its population. Knowing China's history with Japan, China's failed invasion of the Japanese islands, subsequent Japanese isolation, then the Japanese invasion of China after the Sino-Japanese wars, Japan's invasion of Korea and occupation of Manchuria, China