Today, by many accounts, China is the world's foremost purveyor of foreign aid and foreign investment to developing countries. This is the product of China's miracle economic growth over a period of more than three decades, together with China's drive to become a major player in world affairs and accomplish this through economic rather than military means. This three-volume work is the first comprehensive study of China's aid and investment strategy to trace how it has evolved since Beijing launched its foreign aid diplomacy at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Volume III offers an analysis of China's foreign aid and investment to countries outside of Asia: in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Oceania. Africa was and is the most important of these regions and it is given special treatment. In the concluding chapter, Copper reviews the findings of previous the volumes, delineates China's most important victories and setbacks, and notes opposition to and criticism of China's aid and investment diplomacy. Copper gives evidence that will be shocking to some of the reality that China's financial help to developing countries is one of the most salient trends in international politics and constitutes a formidable challenge to the United States, Japan, and Europe, as well as international financial institutions.