Artificial Proximity: Policy Diffusion in China’s East–West Pairings

China’s East–West Pairing programme has centrally assigned more developed eastern regions to support poorer western regions since 1996. This paper asks whether pairing transfers the richer partner’s policies and practices to the poorer partner. Combining difference-in-differences analysis of a policy-text similarity index from 2006 to 2022 with a fieldwork case study, we find no detectable average convergence in binding- norm policy text after designation despite the channels for exchange created by the programme. The case study shows that these channels transfer working practices and create personal ties, while partner dissimilarity and accountability pressures may help explain why these exchanges do not appear as convergence in codified policy.