Rivers of iron : railroads and Chinese power in Southeast Asia

Author(s)

• Lampton, David M.
• Ho, Selina
• Kuik, Cheng-Chwee

Bibliographic Information

Rivers of iron : railroads and Chinese power in Southeast Asia

David M. Lampton, Selina Ho, and Cheng-Chwee Kuik

（A Philip E. Lilienthal book）

University of California Press, c2020

• : hbk

Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

What China's infamous railway initiative can teach us about global dominance. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled what would come to be known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)-a global development strategy involving infrastructure projects and associated financing throughout the world, including Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. While the Chinese government has framed the plan as one promoting transnational connectivity, critics and security experts see it as part of a larger strategy to achieve global dominance. Rivers of Iron examines one aspect of President Xi Jinping's "New Era": China's effort to create an intercountry railway system connecting China and its seven Southeast Asian neighbors (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). This book illuminates the political strengths and weaknesses of the plan, as well as the capacity of the impacted countries to resist, shape, and even take advantage of China's wide-reaching actions. Using frameworks from the fields of international relations and comparative politics, the authors of Rivers of Iron seek to explain how domestic politics in these eight Asian nations shaped their varying external responses and behaviors. How does China wield power using infrastructure? Do smaller states have agency? How should we understand the role of infrastructure in broader development? Does industrial policy work? And crucially, how should competing global powers respond?

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Preface: Setting the Stage Acknowledgments 1. Chinese Power Is as Chinese Power Does 2. The Grand Vision 3. China's Debates 4. Diverse Southeast Asian Responses 5. The Negotiating Tables: China and Southeast Asia 6. Project Implementation: "The Devil Is in the Details" 7. Geopolitics and Geoeconomics 8. Implications for China, Asia, and the World Notes Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

• NCID: BD04573558
• ISBN:
  • 9780520372993
• Country Code: us
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Oakland, Calif.
• Pages/Volumes: xxii, 307 p.
• Size: 24 cm
• Classification:
  • DC23 : 385.0959
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Railroads -- Political aspects -- China -- 21st century
  • LCSH : Southeast Asia -- Foreign relations -- China -- 21st century
  • LCSH : China -- Foreign relations -- Southeast Asia -- 21st century
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA03887253