對於政治學家而言，政府與政府之間的雙邊援外交易，其動機主要乃係源於政治或外交上的考量；但對經濟學家而言，渠等所關切的重點，主要則在於經濟援助本身，對受援國經濟發展所可能產生的影響。本文試圖融合上述兩種傳統理論架構，分別從援助國和受援國的觀點，探討推動雙邊援外交易的動力。在傳統國際政治研究的領域上，經常都是從援助國的觀點來探討對外經濟援助。這種傳統「援助國理論」，引導了吾人在研究經濟援助時，忽略了受援國政府的角色扮演。但是從一個受援國政府的角度來看，援助國的特殊經濟發展經驗，可能有助於形成該國對外經濟援助的內容與特色。換言之，受援國政府除了被動的等待援助國之選擇外，其亦可主動思考或選擇某一特定援助國的經援。受援國本身的經濟發展程度，亦已然成為決定如何主動選取援助國的重要考量因素之一。 為了要解釋經援的集中趨勢，無論對援助國或受援國而言，「經濟發展」乃成為分析上所不可或缺的變數。在中南美洲和非洲地區經濟發展程度的不同，以及兩岸經濟發展經驗的差異，均影響了台北和北京受援國的地理集中趨勢。作為一種經濟發展的經驗與模式，台北的對外經援基本上對經濟發展程度較高的中南美洲和東南亞地區等國家，具有較大的吸引力。在相對照之下，以自力更生發展經驗為基礎的北京對外經援，則顯然受到那些經濟發展較落後非洲國家的青昧。由此可見，在外交動機的驅策下，海峽兩岸不但決定了援助對象的選擇，而且亦由於經援內容的差異，更使得受援國政府亦得必須在台北和北京之間作出抉擇。因此，以海峽兩岸為例，同時從援助國和受援國的角度來探討雙邊對外經濟援助，已然解釋出雙方經援地理分佈模式和集中趨勢的差異性。

　　　　　Taipei and Beijing have utilized foreign economic assistance as an instrument of foreign policy ever since the 1950s. After 1971, when Taipei was forced to withdraw from the United Nations, diplomatic competition became much more intensive in almost every corner of the world. For both of them, foreign aid has been a useful means to help pursue their foreign policy goals. For economists and political scientists, the issue of aid motivation has long been debated from different perspectives. Empirically, the donor's diplomatic motivation in giving aid determines its selection of those specific recipients and thus conduces to the formation of aid distribution patterns geographically. Consequently, the relationship between aid and economic development can be illustrated from different aspects, which construct the analytical framework of this paper. First, does aid tend to facilitate the recipient's economic development, or is the donor really concerned about the recipients? Secondly, features of the donor countries' aid programs are basically shaped by their own experience of economic development. As a result, a recipient country must take into account these aid features before any decisions are made to accept aid. Theoretically, the geographical aid distribution is thus also partially determined by the side of the recipient itself, in addition to the traditional role that the donor plays. Different experiences of economic development in Taiwan and mainland China indeed help to explain the disparities of their foreign aid programs. The distinctions of their aid programs also determine aid distribution patterns between Taipei and Beijing. Taipei's aid focuses on Latin America and Southeast Asia, while Beijing concentrates of Africa. By the same token, different levels of economic development in these regions are also conducive to explain why they are in need of either Taipei or Beijing's foreign aid.