Anchoring Global Ambitions

Beijing’s Ports Financing and the Race for Maritime Dominance

Drawing from an accompanying dataset that tracks nearly $24 billion in Chinese state-directed loans and grants for 363 projects at 168 ports in 90 countries from 2000 to 2025, AidData's new report report explores China's shifting maritime strategy. On March 11, in Washington DC, hear from authors and featured speakers about the implications for the U.S. and its allies, regional powers, and port-hosting countries.
Full ReportRSVP: Panel Discussion ↗
ThE First Tranche Blog

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

2026-03-04

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

New AidData report and dataset provide the clearest picture yet of Beijing’s race for maritime dominance.

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

Peru’s former president, Ollanta Humala, made a technical visit in 2016 to the Las Bambas copper mining project in the Apurímac region. Las Bambas has been the site of significant Chinese investment. Photo by Presidencia Perú via Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
ThE First Tranche Blog

New dataset, profiles track China’s critical minerals investments across the globe

2026-01-30

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

Venezuela Great Again? Pt 2: The Inevitability Of A Failed Petrostate

Forbes

As US presence wanes, China works to increase its influence through foreign aid

NPR

Rise of ‘Filipino trolls’ spurs push for legal fix amid Chinese influence concerns

South China Morning Post

Takeaways from AP’s report on Latin American markets flooded by cheap Chinese goods

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