The Belt and Road Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Chinese 'Land Grabs' in Laos - Juliet Lu Feb 18, 2019

Show notes

On this episode Juliet Lu - Ph.D Candidate in the department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley - is on the show to talk about her recent research on Chinese SOE and private firm land investment in Northern Laos.
Our discussion stems from her years of extensive fieldwork in Northern Laos talking with Chinese investors, Laotian officials and locals on their experience with land investments.
Juliet has published multiple articles on the subject but this episode focuses mainly on her 2017 Journal of Territory, Politics and Governance article co-authored with Oliver Schonweger entitled - Great Expectations: Chinese investment in Laos and the myth of empty land.
Recommendations:

Juliet: The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa by Ching Kwan Lee, and Why is everyone so busy? - In search of lost time a 2014 article in The Economist on free time and why there seems to be so little of it.

Erik: Venezuela and China: A Perfect Storm by Matt Ferchen, an article by Nonresident Scholar @MattFerchen of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.
Erik's second recommendation: Adopt an animal.

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Road Tripping Along the 'New Silk Road' - Charles Stevens Jan 29, 2019

Show notes

On this episode I interview Charles Stevens, who as part of the New Silk Road Project (www.newsilkroadproject.com) traveled over 10,000 miles on the "Silk Road Economic Belt" in a Jeep. Along the way he interviewed different local and Chinese stakeholders who are building, analyzing and using the new Chinese financed and built infrastructure. If you are looking for more on-the-ground stories of what is happening along the Belt, this episode is for you.
Charles' recommendations:
1) China Steps Out: Beijing's Major Power Engagement with the Developing World - edited by Joshua Eisenman and Eric Heginbotham
https://www.routledge.com/China-Steps-Out-Beijings-Major-Power-Engagement-with-the-Developing-World/Eisenman-Heginbotham/p/book/9781138202931
2) The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Roads-New-History-World-ebook/dp/B00XST7IX2
Erik's recommendation:
Anything written by Hannah Ryder twitter: @hmryder
Specifically "My New Year's Resolution: Why I'm Banning "The West"
https://developmentreimagined.com/2019/01/14/my-new-years-resolution-why-im-banning-the-west/
Follow what Charles and the New Silk Road Project are doing @onebeltproject
Follow the latest news, research and analysis @beltandroadpod

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The Challenges to Greening the Belt and Road - A Case Study of Myanmar featuring Nicholas Lo Jan 09, 2019

Show notes

On this episode, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies master student Nicholas Lo talks about his field work that looked at Chinese infrastructure and natural resource investments in Myanmar, and how Chinese capital can bring specific challenges and some potential gains, to creating sustainable development outcomes in the country.
This episode is based on Nicholas' article for the Beijing-based NGO Global Environmental Institute
http://www.geichina.org/en/challenges-of-greening-the-belt-and-road-myanmar-case-study/
Erik's Recommendation:
China Challenges Global Governance? The Case of Chinese International Development Finance and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/ia/china-challenges-global-governance-case-chinese-international-development-finance-and
Nick's recommendation:
Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity by Martin Smith
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1649910.Burma

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Chinese Infrastructure Building and its Effects on Economic Development - A Case Study in Mozambique featuring Ulrikke Wethal Oct 05, 2018

Show notes

This episode features the dynamic researcher from the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo - Ulrikke Wethal

The topic of discussion comes from her latest article:

Beyond the China Factor: Challenges to backwards linkages in the Mozambican construction sector from the June 2018 edition of the Journal of Modern African Studies

Recommendations:
Ulrikke:
1) Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies - China-Africa Research Initiative Data
2) Belt and Road Music Video
Erik:
1) IIED's new documentary short on Mr. Forest, a Chinese investor who is working to bring sustainable forest management to Mozambique

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3: A History of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka - The Importance of Chinese State Owned Enterprises and Host Country Elite Politics in the Belt and Road - Xiao'Ou Zhu Aug 20, 2018

Show notes

In our third episode, I am excited to feature international development consultant Xiao'Ou Zhu. Before every newspaper was using the Hambantota Port as the fearful case of China using "debt diplomacy" Xiao'Ou was doing the on-the-ground fieldwork using China Harbour's Engineering Group's role in the creation of the port as a case showing how important Chinese State Owned Enterprises are in Belt and Road Countries and how many BRI projects are really a bottom-up phenomenon rather than the often reported top-down projects.
Recommendations:
Xiao'Ou Zhu: Read anything about the 1952 Rice-Rubber Agreement
Erik: From Impediment to Adaptation: Chinese Investments in Myanmar's New Regulatory Environment" by Siusue Mark and Youyi Zhang in Journal of Current SE Asian Affairs 2/2017 71-100

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How the Western Media Frames the Belt and Road - Tom Baxter Aug 09, 2018

Show notes

On our second episode Tom Baxter - who works in communications and focuses on the environmental impacts of Belt and Road investments at Greenpeace East Asia in Beijing - talks about his latest article for the blog Panda Paw Dragon Claw “Zooming in, Zooming out: the Frames Through Which Western Media See Belt and Road” https://pandapawdragonclaw.blog/2018/07/27/zooming-in-zooming-out-the-frames-through-which-western-media-see-belt-and-road/

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Chinese Sports Tourism and the Belt and Road Initiative with Emily Weinstein Jul 29, 2018

Show notes

On the inaugural episode of The Belt and Road Podcast, host Erik Myxter-iino brings on Emily Weinstein, a research analyst at Pointe Bellow. Emily talks about her piece featured on the Jamestown Foundation's website "The Belt and Road Initiative: A road to China's World Cup Dreams?" which talks about the BRI and its relation to Sports Tourism and the World CupEmily's Recommendation: The China Soccer Observatory www.nottingham.ac.uk/asiaresearch/p…cso/index.aspxEmily's article: jamestown.org/program/the-belt-a…-world-cup-dreams/Follow the Belt and Road Podcast twitter: @beltandroadpod facebook: www.facebook.com/beltandroadpod

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