Exporting Authoritarianism

China is undertaking massive infrastructure projects across the world and loaning billions of dollars to developing nations. On paper, the objective is to build a vast trade network, but is China also exporting authoritarianism?

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Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Director, Podcasting
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Rafaela Siewert - Associate Podcast Producer

Episode Guests
  • Elizabeth C. Economy
    Senior Fellow for China Studies
  • Jessica Chen Weiss
    Associate Professor of Government, Cornell University

Show Notes

In recent decades, China has captivated the world with its ambitious foreign policy. A major part of this story is China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure and trade project that has poured billions of dollars into developing nations. But some scholars say that China is also seeking to export its authoritarian model of government and erode global democratic norms. With so much at stake, how will the world choose to view China’s motives?

 

From CFR

 

Yes, Virginia, China Is Exporting Its Model,” Elizabeth C. Economy

 

China’s Massive Belt and Road Initiative,” Andrew Chatzky and James McBride

 

What the COVID-19 Pandemic May Mean for China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” Mira Rapp-Hooper, Kirk Lancaster, and Michael Rubin

 

Read More

 

A World Safe for Autocracy? Foreign Affairs 

 

In Nigeria, Chinese Investment Comes With a Downside,” New York Times 

 

Made in China, Exported to the World: The Surveillance State,” New York Times 

 

Watch or Listen

 

China’s trillion dollar plan to dominate global trade,” Vox

 

China’s One Belt One Road Could Make Or Break This Poor European Country,” Vice News

 

Who wins and who loses? Jamaica on China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” CBC News: The National

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