Chinese Foundations and the Challenge of ‘Going International

China’s international cooperation strategies are gradually changing due to evolving views about the limits of its internationalisation approach, which has traditionally mainly focused on building governmental and business relationships. Intensified interactions with low-income countries in context Belt Road Initiative perceived benefit from an increased role for domestic non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This article explores initial steps enabling NGO landscape internationalise by looking at this development organisational capacity perspective. By assessing five key characteristics 36 Chinese foundations engaging cooperation, we find that average is still limited but shows gradual improvement. While they all comply government regulations governance several have large budgets operations, our findings suggest only a few currently mobilise substantial human financial resources their activities.