Analyzing the spatial allocation of Japan’s aid to China: A perspective from the relations between aid allocation stakeholders

While the spatial distribution of foreign aid has aroused a widespread academic interest, the existing research is limited mainly to the transnational level and lacks an analysis of aid allocation within a single recipient country. Moreover, more attention is paid to the factors influencing the aid allocation than to the interactions among different aid allocation stakeholders. To fill the research blank, this paper proposes a “three‐party relationship model” to analyze the spatial allocation of aid within a recipient county, and uses the case of Japan's aid to China to validate the model. We find most of the aid has been allocated to the economic infrastructure, over time, and the key aid sector has shifted from economic infrastructure to social infrastructure and general environmental protection; The allocation characteristics of total aid and key aid sectors are various; The spatial allocation pattern of aid reflects an interaction between the donor (Japan) and the recipient country (China). The degree of importance of each aid allocation stakeholder is different at different stages of the total life cycle of aid, and the aid allocation stakeholder relationship in the three‐party relationship model may be constantly reshaped during the allocation processes of aid in space.