Beyond Resource Transfer: The Action Logic and Innovative Patterns of Counterpart Assistance for Rural Revitalization in Western China

Regional inequality remains a persistent challenge for development governance. When external support is disconnected from local conditions or excessively displaces local actors, resource inputs may fail to generate sustainable development and even weaken local agency. To examine how external support can be transformed into sustainable local capacity, this study integrates neo-endogenous development theory with synergetics to develop an “exogenous–endogenous synergy” framework. Drawing on multiple rounds of fieldwork and interviews, the study finds that Guangdong–Guangxi collaboration has shifted from compensatory resource transfer towards capacity building and institutional embedding. This transformation operates through three interrelated mechanisms: coordinated guidance, multidimensional incentives, and digital empowerment. Variations in local resource endowments and ideational capacity give rise to three context-contingent pathways: integrated advancement, ideational activation, and resource mobilization, each representing a pathway towards an ideal-type model. The findings suggest that cross-regional collaboration may reduce regional inequality when transferred resources are converted into sustainable local capacity, thereby strengthening rather than substituting for local agency.