[Book Talk] Protecting China’s Interests Overseas: From the Middle East to Central Asia

Andrea Ghiselli, author of the book Protecting China’s Interests Overseas: Securitisation and Foreign Policy, will discuss Chinese foreign and security policymaking with Raffaello Pantucci, a researcher at RSIS whose work looks at security dynamics in the Eurasian heartland. Focusing on the broad territory that lies between MENA and South and Central Asia, Ghiselli and Pantucci will discuss China’s challenges in managing non-traditional security issues across this wide landscape and the gradual development of a Chinese strategic approach to defending its interests overseas.   With a footprint that has dramatically increased since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative by President Xi Jinping in 2013, Chinese companies and institutions are increasingly having to manage a more complicated range of security threats. From terrorism to crime and political risk and geopolitical risks, Chinese firms and citizens find themselves in ever more precarious places and the Chinese state is still working out how to play a role in managing these risks. Moderated by MEI Principal Research Fellow Alessandro Arduino, Ghiselli and Pantucci will explore these questions and highlight particular issues Dr Ghiselli focuses on in his new book.   Event image taken from the cover of Protecting China’s Interests Overseas, Securitization and Foreign Policy by Andrea Ghiselli