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China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Southeast Asia

A report tracking the risks and rewards of BRI

In Southeast Asia, views of the Belt and Road Initiative range from admiration, to fear and suspicion. 

LSE IDEAS’ latest joint report with CARI points a path for leaders, revealing the impact, pitfalls, and opportunities for the region

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Southeast Asia

Authors

Biographies from time of publication

Professor Michael Cox is Director of LSE IDEASand Emeritus Professor of International Relationsat LSE. He is a renowned international lecturer who has published extensively on the United States, transatlantic relations, Asia’s rise and the problems facing the EU–and the impact these changes arehaving on international relations.

Tan Sri Dr Munir Makid is Chairman of CIMB ASEAN Research Institute, and also of Bank Muamalat Malaysia, of the Financial Services Professional Board, of ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Malaysia, as well as President of the ASEAN Business Club. He sits on the board of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), is an Honorary Fellow of LSE and Visiting Senior Fellow LSE IDEAS. He is an active regional advocate of deeper ASEAN economic integration.

Dr Yu Jie is Head of China Foresight at LSE IDEAS. Her research focuses on the decision-making process of Chinese foreign policy as well as China’s economic diplomacy. She speaks and writes frequently at major media outlets such as the BBC, the Financial Times and the Washington Post. Shealso regularly briefs China’s geopolitical landscape to senior policy practitioners and corporates, including the UK Cabinet Office, the Silk Road Fund in Beijing, Royal Dutch Shell and the UBS. Dr Yu has been recognised as “a Leading Woman of LSE”.

Jinny Yan is Managing Director, Chief China Economist, China Markets Strategy, Global MarketsFixed Income, Currencies, and Equities, ICBC Standard Bank. Prior to joining ICBC Standard Bankto lead China markets strategy and research, Jinnywas a London-based Senior Economist at Standard Chartered Bank. She covered key China-Europe macrotopics with a focus on Renminbi internationalisation.Her previous economist roles include covering Chinabased in Shanghai, Europe, and supporting theChief Economist.

Sufian Jusoh is Director of the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Sufian is also a Senior Fellow at the CIMB ASEAN Research Institute. He is a co-founder of the ASEAN Economic Integration Forum and retains his affiliation at the World Trade Institute, Switzerland and the World Bank Group.

Hanim Hamza is Regional Managing Partner of ZICOlaw Network, the only premier law firm network with offices in all ten ASEAN countries. The network comprises independent leading law firms with a full presence in 18 cities across Southeast Asia, aregion of over 600 million people and 10 countries. Research support by team led by Norlaila binti Mohd Nasir of ZICO Knowledge Services Sdn Bhd. She is also Senior Fellow of the CIMB Institute.

Dr Nicola Casarini is Senior Fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. He is a non-resident Global Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington DC. Prior to this, he held positions at the Wilson Center in Washington DC, at the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris; at Bocconi University in Milan; atthe European University Institute in Florence; and at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Pauline Loong is managing director of the HongKong-based research consultancy Asia-analytica. She is also a Senior Fellow of CIMB ASEAN Research Institute. She has earned an outstanding reputation as among the best-informed analysts of China’s political economy. She authors the well known“Loong on China” newsletter which has won accolades for its perceptiveness as well as its meticulous research and reliability.

Kelvin Tay is Regional Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. Kelvin is a member of the UBS Global Emerging Markets Investment Committee, as well as the Asia-Pacific Investment Committee where he provides strategic research and inputs to the investment and asset allocation process across asset classes.

Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS) and Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University. He has authored and lectured on a wide range of articles, books and book chapters on Thailand’s politics, political economy, and foreign policy, and ASEAN and East Asian geopolitics and geoeconomics.

Listen to the recording of the event this report is based on here.