Seminar Report  Book Launch and Discussion “Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia”  21 July 2021 ISBN 978-616-341-109-9 (Download .pdf below)

Rivers of Iron examines China’s efforts 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. The book seeks 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?