Anchoring Global Ambitions

Beijing’s Ports Financing and the Race for Maritime Dominance

New report and dataset explore China's shifting maritime strategy, tracking nearly $24 billion in Chinese official financing for projects at 168 ports in 90 countries from 2000 to 2025.
Full Report
ThE First Tranche Blog

AidData to conduct impact evaluations and research gender equity in sub-Saharan Africa

2026-03-16

From left to right: AidData’s Rachel Sayers, Katherine Nolan, and Jessica Wells pause for a photo outside the Black Star Gate in Accra, Ghana during an on-the-ground research visit. Photo courtesy Katherine Nolan.

A new grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will enable AidData to finalize years of collaborative research projects in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Rwanda.

Aerial view of Chancay seaport in Peru, while still under construction. Photo by rjankovsky via Adobe Stock, used under the Standard license.
ThE First Tranche Blog

China’s $24 billion in ports financing encircles the globe, reaching 90 countries

2026-03-04

Drone imagery around coffee fields in Honduras. Collected by Dr. Matthew Hansen and the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory team from the University of Maryland.
ThE First Tranche Blog

Compliance in every cup? Using Earth Observation data to meet global deforestation rules for coffee production

2026-02-03

Anchoring Global Ambitions: Beijing’s Ports Financing and the Race for Maritime Dominance

Policy Report

Anchoring Global Ambitions: Beijing’s Ports Financing and the Race for Maritime Dominance

Prioritizing Agenda 2030: How do Global South leaders navigate trade-offs and assess relevance?

Policy Brief

Prioritizing Agenda 2030: How do Global South leaders navigate trade-offs and assess relevance?

From cash to capital: Leveraging remittances for Yemen’s economic future

Profile

From cash to capital: Leveraging remittances for Yemen’s economic future

About AidData

We use rigorous methods, cutting-edge tools, and granular data on international development to answer the question: who is doing what, where, for whom, and to what effect?

How China Collateralizes

The first comprehensive analysis of how China secures priority repayment from emerging economies

Working Paper

AidData's Research In the News

Kenya revives stalled China-backed railway after six-year halt

Reuters

For China, Billions of Dollars Are at Risk From a Widening War

The New York Times

China spent years building ties in Latin America. Can Trump make room for the US?

BBC

Trump takes forceful steps to pressure Latin American leaders to reduce China ties

Associated Press (AP)

New Working Papers

Working Paper #
136

How China Collateralizes

Anna Gelpern, Omar Haddad, Sebastian Horn, Paulina Kintzinger, Bradley C. Parks, Christoph Trebesch

June 25, 2025

Working Paper #
135

The Speed of Aid: Strategic Urgency in International Emergency Relief

Andreas Fuchs, Samuel Siewers

June 15, 2025

Working Paper #
134

Foreign Borrowing, Sovereignty, and Public Opinion in the Global South: Traditional Lenders or China?

David Janoff Bulman, Ning Leng, Kerry Ratigan

March 27, 2025

Programs

China’s Global Engagement

Systematically tracking China's portfolio of overseas investments and soft power activities

Foreign Policy Influence

Quantifying the economic and soft power tools of China, Russia, and the United States

Gender Equity in Development

Innovation in research to reduce gender bias in development

GeoQuery

Enabling the next generation of geospatial analysis

Geospatial Tools and Impact Evaluations

Innovation and rigor to measure impact more effectively

Listening to Leaders

Perspectives of leaders in low- and middle-income countries