Table 1 Assessment framework of interview questions

Topic 1:Capacity building

1. How many times have the RNAS⁺ training courses been held in China?

2. Have you ever attended the short-term training organized by China (except for the RNAS⁺ annual meeting/training)?

3. Which skills did you learn from China (by workshops and trainings)?

Topic2: Funding

4. How many times have you received China’s grant to attend RNAS⁺ annual meeting/training?

5. How many RNAS⁺ annual meetings / trainings were mainly sponsored by China but not held in China:

Topic 3: Coordination

6. Currently, there are already five committee chairmen of RNAS⁺. Do you know how many of them are Chinese?

7. Have you ever been invited by China to be the instructor of RNAS⁺ training / the speaker of the annual meeting?

8. Do you know the address of the RNAS⁺ website?

Topic 4: Cooperation program

9. Did you participate in the IDRC project?

10. Are you willing to apply the new “Belt & Road Initiative” related program with Chinese experts?

Scoring sheet

Please indicate a score of 0 to 10 for China’s contributions / roles in RNAS⁺ (Description:"0”is no contribution, “10” is 100% contribution):

11. China’s contributions / roles in improving capacity building of RNAS⁺?

12. China’s funding contributions / roles to RNAS⁺?

13. China’s contributions / roles in the coordination of RNAS⁺?

14. China’s contributions / roles in applying for cooperation program / project jointly with RNAS⁺ member institutions?

15. The overall assessment of China’s contribution / role in RNAS⁺?