Back in 2015, when Eyck Freymann began studying China, he kept coming across this phrase in Chinese media: “One Belt, One Road.” No one in the West was talking about it, but, for anyone paying attention, it was the initiative that would define Xi Jinping’s reign. Eyck joins us to explain the significance of these four words, the imperial mantle Xi Jinping has donned (and why many countries are loving it), and the tricky geo-political landscape the U.S. must navigate if we’re to avoid another Cold War.
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On the agenda:
-Intro to Eyck & China [2:49]
-A Coda to our Conversation with Batya Ungar-Sargon [7:47]
-The story of the decade is not a story about debt traps [17:07]
-One Belt, One Road: How it began [25:11]
-The Empire Strikes Back (What Chinese propaganda teaches us) [38:25]
-Why the West needs to be on alert [51:37]
-Violations & Hypocrisies [1:02:08]
-What the Biden Administration Should Do [1:11:55]
-Eyck's take on current events [1:19:18]
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
Welcome to Cold War II (w/ Eyck Freymann)