Speaker: Austin Strange, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong

Infrastructure is at the heart of China’s growing, controversial presence in global development. In addition to economic considerations, infrastructure projects are important cogs in China’s pursuit of international influence. But do overseas infrastructure projects actually serve as effective influence tools for China? Examining a new dataset of 20th-century Chinese-financed projects along with new evidence on Chinese development finance since 2000, we find that these projects have created mechanisms of influence as well as a source of risk for China and host countries. As a result, contemporary Chinese global infrastructure has injected major uncertainty into China’s pursuit of international influence. Given questions about the Belt and Road Initiative, what will China’s future global infrastructure look like?

Also presented on Zoom. Register at https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XTQC_H2tT1yEVMEij6vDvw.