Competing with the Belt and Road 2.0

China is now the world’s single largest source of international development finance. Yet its overseas development program is shrouded in secrecy. It does not disclose information about its foreign aid projects through international reporting systems, such as the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) or the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System. Nor does it publish detailed information about its non-concessional and semi-concessional lending activities in low income and middle-income countries. China also uses stringent confidentiality requirements to shield its foreign loan contracts from public scrutiny.

To overcome this evidentiary challenge, William & Mary’s AidData research lab pioneered the development of a new method of data collection called Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF), which standardizes and synthesizes information from hundreds of thousands of sources in over a dozen languages across 165 developing countries. With an army of more than 200 faculty, staff, and students, AidData has used the TUFF methodology to build and maintain the most comprehensive and detailed dataset of PRC grant- and loan-financed projects and activities in the developing world.

This brief explores what we have learned about the scale, scope, and composition of China’s overseas development program.