Unpacking China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Its Energy and Environmental Implications

Date: 

Thursday, April 6, 2017, 3:30pm to 4:45pm

Location: 

Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA

Harvard-China Project Research Seminar Series

In 2013, China’s President, Xi Jinping, proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), sometimes alternatively labeled "One Belt, One Road." The State Council authorized the BRI action plan in 2015 with two main components: the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the ocean-based “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. The belt and road together are intended to strengthen China’s ties to more than 60 countries of the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, and Europe. The initiative is part of China’s major strategy to increase its outward investment in infrastructure building, develop new multilateral financial instruments, and facilitate economic cooperation in the Eurasia region.  

In this seminar, Prof. Weidong Liu, Professor in Economic Geography, Assistant Director, and Chair of the Center for the Belt and Road Initiative, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science, will discuss the Belt and Road Initiative, including its implications for energy and environment in China and Eurasia. Co-sponsored by China Project, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies; and Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School