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CARI Researchers Critique AidData’s Report on Chinese “Hidden Debt” in BRI Countries

by Eric Olander

AidData’s landmark research report published last month, “Banking on the Belt and Road,” generated tremendous media coverage around the world, particularly related to the report’s finding that $385 billion in so-called “hidden debts” are owed to China.

Since AidData also published the dataset that it used to evaluate 13,427 Chinese-funded projects, other scholars are also looking at that data and questioning some of the group’s findings.

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