The belt buckles up: China’s grand plan slims

The Iran war triggered the largest supply shock in the history of petroleum, yet prices never rose as high as feared. Our correspondent explains how action taken by China steadied global oil flows. Why Brazil has such strict laws on racist language. And the legendary lager of Lao ...  Show more

The Muslim Brotherhood won power and influence in the Arab Spring of 2011. Now autocrats are resurgent and its leaders are in jail or exile. Elon Musk says Europe is more dangerous than America. Is he right? And the puzzling popularity of padel.Guests and host:Gareth Browne, Midd ...  Show more

The Belt and Road initiative to encircle much of the world with Chinese-funded, Chinese-built infrastructure is growing <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/02/22/xi-jinpings-next-overseas-lending-revolution?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.n ...

Xi Jinping announced a massive building project along the ‘New Silk Road’ to very little fanfare in Kazakhstan 10 years ago this month. Infrastructure including railways, roads and ports have been built in 165 countries to date, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Bill ...  Show more

As sanctions derail its traditional business, China’s Huawei is scrambling to reinvent itself by shifting into areas less dependent on foreign chip supplies. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has left scores of lower and middle-income countries saddled with “hidden d ...

My guest today, Elizabeth Economy, is the author of the new book The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. The book examines the transformative changes ongoing in China today under the leadership of Xi Jinping.