Hear THE Voices...
Voices of the Belt & Road tells the stories of people that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It demystifies the initiative by enabling you to listen to the voices of experts and policy-makers, but also the very people affected by the initiative day in and day out.
It has become fashionable to conceptualize the BRI through large numbers. But we hear very little of the people and stories behind the initiative. BRI needs stories, it needs faces and it needs voices. Voices of the Belt and Road is your chance to hear them.
On this podcast, Professor Dominik Mierzejewski discusses the significance of local level actors’ cooperation for the development of the Belt and Road Initative. He also shares his personal insights coming from the experience of developing Sino-Polish cooperation in the city of Lodz - an important Belt and Road hub located in Central Poland.
Read MoreOn this podcast, Jia Yu discusses what she learned as part of a team doing large scale investing in Africa from both a business and personal perspective. The colorful examples she discusses on the podcast highlight the importance of cultural understanding and the need for building the “soft” human infrastructure as well as the “hard” infrastructure components such as mining facilities, power generation plants and industrial parks.
Read MoreOn this podcast, world renowned China expert Kerry Brown discusses the meaning and purpose of the Belt and Road Initiative. Professor Brown highlights that China wants to communicate its story and the vision of the future through its chief foreign policy initiative. But communicating and understanding this complex Belt and Road story is far from easy.
Read MoreOn this podcast, Hannah Ryder - economist, diplomat, development expert - talks about the recent FOCAC Summit in Beijing, a complex relationship between China and African countries and challenges related to running effective development projects. Hannah highlights that African countries have much to gain from the Belt and Road Initiative, but they also have to know what they want.
Read MoreOn this podcast,Parag Khanna, best selling author of six books and one of the leading thought leaders on the topics of international trade, communications, urban development, discusses the Belt and Road initiative, China’s and Asia’s role in the future. Parag’s unique insights on the intersection of culture, technology, infrastructure, cities and geography make this podcast one not to be missed!
Read MoreOn this podcast, Ankur Shah shares his observations from his visits to Belt and Road Project’s sites and stories from his expedition following footsteps of Marco Polo along the Silk Road.
Before listening to the podcast, watch a 3-minute trailer of the upcoming “105 Nights” documentary about the expedition that Ankur took part in. Click here to see today’s Silk Road: https://vimeo.com/237607248.
Read MoreOn this podcast, Innoway’s Head of the Global Incubator, Tim Luan, discusses ZhongGuanCun and Innoway’s role in supporting entrepreneurs and innovation (both local and international) in China including what it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur in China.
Read MoreOn this podcast, Shada Islam, the Director of Europe and Geopolitics at Friends of Europe, an influential think tank based in Brussels, and a Professor at College of Europe, discusses Sino-European relations and the European Union's perspective on the Belt and Road Initiative.
Read MoreIn this podcast, Beijing-based commentator and professor Harvey Dzodin talks about how China is struggling with leveraging its soft power and offers plenty of examples and advice of how China could “win the hearts and minds” of the people of the various countries of the Belt and Road.
Read MoreOn this podcast, Professor Liu Zuokui（刘作奎）, the Director of the Department of Central and Eastern European (CEE) Studies at Institute of European Studies, CASS, and the Acting Director of the China-CEE Countries Think Tanks Exchange and Cooperation Network Office provides an overview of China-CEE relations and evaluates the efficiency of the controversial 16+1 China-CEE Cooperation. He also puts his remarks in a wider context of China-Europe engagement under the BRI.
Read MoreOn this podcast, Francesco Lorenzini, a founder of TechSilu, a group dedicated to empowering the cooperation between Chinese and South-European tech ecosystems, discusses the opportunities offered by Chinese market to startups coming from Belt and Road countries. Francesco also talks about the experience of running a company focused on connecting foreign countries with the Chinese market. He offers insights into challenges that have to be taken into account when making a decision to enter the Chinese market and provides an overview of institutions that can help in this process.
Read MoreIn this podcast, Martin Jacques, a world-renowned best selling author, Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing puts forward his views on how the BRI will impact the world and enhance China’s global hegemony. It is a rare preview into some of the topics he will be covering in his next book!
Read MoreIn this podcast, Sebastian Murdoch-Gibson, a research fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada discusses the ‘Polar Silk Road’ and its potential consequences for the Arctic and Nordic countries. He also talks about his travels, where he met a wide variety of actors who are involved with proposed Belt and Road projects including a former tech entrepreneur and creator of Angry Birds who wants to link Helsinki and Tallinn via a undersea tunnel.
Read MoreIn this podcast, Harriet Kariuki, a young analyst from Kenya who works at an investment firm in the region talks about China-Africa relations in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. This includes topics such as Chinese investments in the Horn of Africa, the current debt build-up, the African startup scene, as well as integration amongst Chinese and Africans.
Read MoreIn this podcast, Professor Chen Dongmin, the Dean of School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Peking University and a serial entrepreneur, who co-founded two Silicon Valley companies, discusses the impact of Chinese innovation and blockchain technologies on the future of the Belt and Road Initiative. Professor Chen also talks about the importance of fostering entrepreneurial education and supporting small and medium enterprises in making BRI succeed.
Read MoreIn this podcast, world renowned Law Scholar Don Lewis discusses some of the distinctive features of China’s legal system, what is meant by the Belt and Road Legal “Architecture,” including in relation to the Cyber/Digital Silk Road, and the resounding impacts which BRI is bringing to the world of international arbitration and dispute resolution generally, with special reference to the recent inauguration by the Supreme People’s Court of the China International Commercial Courts in Xi’an and Shenzhen – the Silk Road Courts.
Read MoreIn this podcast, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Chairman and Founder of Dezan Shira and Associates, discusses how foreign firms can benefit from Chinese built Belt and Road infrastructure. He stresses that the bigger opportunity for foreign firms is to actually understand the infrastructure build up and the knock-on opportunities this new infrastructure is going to create. One examples is the Chinese built Southern Expressway in Sri Lanka. This is a road which leads from Colombo airport and heads southwards. That reduced the journey time from 5-6 hours to 2.5 hours. That’s had a huge impact on the tourism industry, and some of the big hotel chains entered as a result.
Read MoreBack in 2013 Manchester took a new and innovative approach to increase its commercial connectivity with China by establishing a unique vehicle to lead its China engagement strategy: the Manchester China Forum (曼彻斯特英中协会). Core to the Forum’s focus has been recognition of the importance that improved connectivity with China plays in delivering broader economic benefits to Manchester. In this podcast, we interview Rhys Whalley, Executive Director of the Manchester China Forum, who tells us more about the Forum and its work with China.
Read MoreIn this podcast, Oyuna Baldakova - PhD Candidate at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Free University of Berlin – discusses her research on the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan. Oyuna has recently conducted her fieldwork in the country, and in the podcast gives granular insights on what’s happening on the ground.
Read MoreAndy Mok is the founder of Red Pagoda Resources, which invests in and provides professional services to startups in China. He is a frequent commentator on CGTN and in this podcast discusses the image of the Belt and Road Initiative around the world, as well as the BRI in the backdrop of global geopolitical shifts.
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