“China Marches West”

A Camden Conference presentation with Seth Singleton.
Several times in its long history, a powerful China has marched west into the inner Asian deserts and mountains, toward Persia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Europe. Today a wealthy and powerful China is marching west again. The Belt and Road initiative sends Chinese companies and workers to build roads, railways, bridges, ports and pipelines in countries from Tajikistan and Pakistan to Croatia and Greece. These projects, financed with Chinese loans, are designed to bring resources to China, expand markets for Chinese goods, and establish China’s primacy across Eurasia.
In this talk we will look at China’s westward strategy and initiatives, and the reactions to them, and we will consider the fate of the Uyghurs.

Seth Singleton teaches international relations at the University of Maine. This presentation is hosted by the Belfast Free Library and offered as a free community event in in anticipation of the 32nd Annual Camden Conference –Is This China’s Century?, February 22-24, 2019.