AidData, the development research lab at William & Mary College in Virginia, published a landmark report this week that provides the most comprehensive overview to date of Chinese financing of projects along the Belt and Road. Researchers pored through 13,247 projects in 165 countries worth $843 billion from 2000 through 2017.The report sparked a torrent of media coverage this week, mostly on the news about $385 billion of so-called "hidden debts."But the data in this report tells a much more nuanced story about Chinese overseas development finance than what was portrayed in the news. AidData's Executive Director Brad Parks joins Eric & Cobus to walk through the report's key findings and explain why Chinese debt financing is incredibly complicated.SHOW NOTES:Download the full report: Banking on the Belt and RoadAidData Blog: AidData’s new dataset of 13,427 Chinese development projects worth $843 billion reveals major increase in ‘hidden debt’ and Belt and Road Initiative implementation problemsJOIN THE DISCUSSION:CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProjectTwitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @aiddataJOIN US ON PATREON!Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug!www.patreon.com/chinaafricaprojectYour support of this podcast helps to keep the show on the air. Thank you!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.