What is the real story of China's "hidden debt"?

The "hidden debt" (US$ 309 billion) and "underreported debt" (US$ 385 billion) problem with Chinese loans is not as serious as the numbers suggested in a recently published AidData report. The median figure for "underreported debt" is 1.8 percent of GDP, however AidData reports that the "average" country is underreporting its Chinese debt by 5.8 percent of GDP, failing to note that this average is subject to large outliers. AidData’s methodology overestimates host government liabilities by including the entire Chinese loan to a joint venture as a host country debt (against World Bank Debtor Reporting System guidelines), even when the host country owns as little as 10 percent of the investment. Three countries account for $US 235 billion, or 61 percent of the “underreported” debt not disclosed to the World Bank: Russia, Venezuela, and Kazakhstan. Venezuela is not a World Bank borrower and is therefore not required to report its borrowing.