A. Sanghi and D. Johnson are developing plans to offer Chinese language classes in primary and secondary schools (KICD 2014).

## **4.3 Lack of quality Chinese aid data**

Since OECD and other official sources do not track China’s aid, researchers at AidData have created their own database of Chinese aid to Africa.<sup>12</sup> The database uses media reports, government investment websites, and other official sources to calculate the total amount of Chinese development finance to various African countries by project. The data collection occurs in two stages. First, researchers look through Factiva, a Dow-Jones owned media search engine, to identify media reports about aid projects in various countries. The team also uses donor and recipient country government websites to search for projects that they may have missed in the initial Factiva search (Strange _et al_ 2013). After selecting the first group of projects, AidData re-searches using Google and other country search engines such as Baidu to retrieve the date, location, project cost, financial details, and status of the project. AidData then uses other staff members to review project details and information sources to correct mistakes.

### **4.3.1 Drawbacks of existing Chinese aid data: Media based data collection is problematic**

Compiling data from various sources to create something usable for analysis is commendable and brings more transparency to the debate on Chinese aid. Since the database is open source, anyone can suggest improvements and make corrections, allowing the database to improve with time. Relying on media reports, however, is problematic. Newspapers often report inaccurate information on the size and type of financial flows, or cover projects that are later cancelled. 6 of 20 Chinese deals cited in an AidData paper, for example, never actually happened, and China only financed 38 percent of the Merowe hydropower project in South Sudan. The authors, as a result, find that the total of the 20 Chinese deals was US $38 billion when the actual total is only US $9 billion (Br ̈autigam 2013).

Data entry from media reports is also error-prone and classifying aid flows is hardly straightforward. Selection bias is also a problem with media-based data collection: only projects that journalists write about make it to the aid figures. Although AidData includes English and Chinese language media reports, researchers may also overlook other resources such as local newspapers in other languages or those only published in print. Given the issues with media data collection, we decide not to report aid numbers from these databases, and we will wait for a time when the open source community and researchers have had more time to correct errors.

# **5 Review and future directions**

FDI is usually beneficial for small countries when they have the capacity to absorb the investment. Chinese investment can become more transparent if Kenya can reduce corruption and promote good governance. Reforms in the rule of law and the regulatory environment will also help companies run more efficiently. Just as Jamaica promoted itself as an entry point to markets in the Caribbean, so too can Kenya continue to encourage Chinese companies to use Kenya as an entry

> 12See `china.aiddata.org`

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