The final installment of the Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China, featuring Professor Min Ye, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. 

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Background: 

China's one-of-a-kind Belt and Road Initiative or BRI aims to build a series of infrastructure projects from Asia to Europe. The Second Belt and Road was announced in China on October 18, focusing on a policy shift towards greener projects. Simultaneously, in early October, senior Biden administration officials started visits to developing countries to scout potential investments in infrastructure projects. As the U.S. and other Western powers begin to formulate plans to counter China's BRI, the question begs to be asked, will these efforts be enough to offer a viable alternative? 

Featuring: 

Professor Min Ye, Associate Professor of International Relations, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

Min Ye is Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.  Her research situates in the nexus between domestic and global politics and the intersection of economics and security, with a focus on China, India, and regional relations. Her publications include The Belt, Road and Beyond: State-Mobilized Globalization in China 1998 — 2018 (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Diasporas and Foreign Direct Investment in China and India (Cambridge University Press, 2014), and The Making of Northeast Asia (with Kent Calder, Stanford University Press, 2010).  

Moderating: 

Ms. Keren Zhu, Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND 

Keren Zhu is an Assistant Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation, a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and an adjunct lecturer at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California. Her research interests include infrastructure development in emerging markets, program evaluation, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and China's engagement with the world. Prior to joining RAND, she was the International Affairs Manager at Research and Development International, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where she led internal cooperation of the institute in working with partners from Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and Kazakhstan in promoting the implementation of the BRI. She has fieldwork experience in China, Ghana, Benin, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. Zhu is working on her dissertation on BRI megaproject impact assessment, has published extensively on BRI and global infrastructure development in forms of peer-reviewed journal articles and op-eds.