Keren speaks with Tayyab Safdar and Hasan H. Karrar about the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a 3,000 km Chinese infrastructure network project currently under construction in Pakistan and a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. CPEC spans energy, highways, railways, and ports, aiming to connect China's western regions to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan. For China, CPEC offers shorter routes for energy imports and trade; for Pakistan, it offers economic growth, industrialization, and greater regional connectivity.

Tayyab Safdar is the Global Security & Justice Track Director; Assistant Professor of Global Studies & Engagements, A&S at the University of Virginia. His research explores the evolving dynamics of South-South Development Cooperation, with the rise of emerging powers in the developing world like China and India. His research also looks at the implications of increasing Chinese investment in developing countries that are a part of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), like Pakistan.

Hasan H. Karrar is Associate Professor in the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of. Management Sciences. He researches transnational connections and geopolitical alignments between China, Central Asia and north Pakistan, as well as development, governance and securitization on state peripheries, and in the deployment and representation of Chinese economic and strategic power.

Recommendations:

Hasan:

• Study, think about, and pay attention to what is happening in Pakistan
• Visit Pakistan!

Tayyab:

• Pay attention to the local context (beyond nation-state-oriented views to more community-oriented views) when thinking about big projects like CPEC
• Also recommends visiting Pakistan

Keren:

• Seeing China's Belt and Road, eds. Edward Schatz, Rachel Silvey (Oxford University Press, 2024)

Thanks for listening!

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Beimeng Fu and Zhaoyin Feng join the Belt and Road Podcast to talk about durian, a tropical fruit most widely known for its strong and divisive odor. It's also a fruit in very high demand in China; the country consumes 1.5 million tons of durian per year. Beimeng and Zhaoyin talk about how Chinese consumption of the fruit is driving durian plantation expansion across Southeast Asia and what that means for the region.

Beimeng Fu is an independent multimedia journalist and filmmaker based in Mexico. She previously worked as senior producer of original video and documentary production at Sixth Tone. Her work has been published by The Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, ABC News, South China Morning Post, among others. She co-publishes Far & Near, a visual newsletter about China from local perspectives.

Zhaoyin Feng is an independent journalist and documentary producer, specializing in covering China and its place in the world. She has reported from the U.S., Europe, and Asia for a wide range of international media outlets. She previously worked as a North America correspondent and investigative documentary producer at the BBC World Service, reporting in both English and Chinese in digital, television, and audio formats.

Recommendations:

Beimeng:

• Welcome Me to the Kingdom by Mai Nardone (2023)

Zhaoyin:

• Howtown show on Youtube from Adam Cole and Joss Fong
• The Present Past show on Youtube from Jochem

Erik:

• Kendrick Lamar & SZA concert
• Minneapolis

Juliet:

• Podcast episode on Initium where Beimeng and Zhaoyin discuss their research in Chinese (and try listening at 0.75 speed if you need to practice your Mandarin!)

Thanks for listening!

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Thanks for listening!

Follow us on BlueSky @beltandroadpod.blsk.social

Mingwei Huang joins Juliet, Keren, and Sisi to talk about the social and racial dimensions of China's increasing engagement with Africa, with a focus on Huang's research in Johannesburg, South Africa. The discussion is inspired by Mingwei's recent book, Reconfiguring Racial Capitalism: South Africa in the Chinese Century (Duke University Press, 2024).

Mingwei Huang is assistant professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Dartmouth University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar of race and migration trained in American studies and gender & sexuality studies.

Recommendations:

Mingwei:

• Made in Ethiopia film (2024)

Keren:

• When Life Gives You Tangerines series on Netflix

Juliet:

• Elizabeth Plantan, Wendy Leutert, Austin Strange, Pivoting to Overseas Development: International NGOs' Changing Engagement with China (2025)

Thanks for listening!

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