Britain, China and the new Silk Road
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2018
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Theresa May has been in Beijing this week at the head of a large British trade delegation. China is an important partner for Britain, especially given the UK's imminent departure from the EU. In particular, Beijing is keen for Britain to support its huge infrastructure project initially dubbed the New Silk Road, but now more generally known as the Belt and Road Initiative. China is spending unprecedented sums on building physical infrastructure; roads, railways, ports and even whole cities, not only in its own hinterland, but in many neighbouring countries. But to what end and what is the potential cost for these countries? Should Britain get involved? David Aaronovitch hears eye witness accounts of vast construction projects in Central Asia and Pakistan. And he invites the expert witnesses, Professor Steve Tsang from the School of Oriental and African Studies, Dr Yu Jie of the London School of Economics and James Kynge of the Financial Times to explore Britain's relationship with an increasingly powerful China.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Oronovich. You step inside and you and I get briefed together on the big issues by people who know what they're talking about. Do please let us know what you think by writing a review or rating us on iTunes or your podcast provider. And if you'd like, please recommend us to anyone you know. And a thanks to those of you who have recently reviewed us, |
| 0:21.4 | including Weatherboy and Simon Cuff. If you enjoy this, you might enjoy other editions of the |
| 0:27.3 | briefing room. Last week, for example, we asked who wanted what from the Syrian conflict. |
| 0:32.8 | This week, I'm getting briefed on the massive international Chinese infrastructure project |
| 0:37.4 | that is known as the Belt and Road Initiative. |
| 0:40.1 | So take your seat in the briefing room. |
| 0:46.3 | There aren't many rap songs that celebrate shipping containers, coal-fired power stations, the Greek port of Piraeus, or industrial parks in Belarus. |
| 1:00.0 | Extensive consultation, joint contribution and share benefits. |
| 1:04.0 | But when you're selling China's Belt and Road Initiative, the biggest infrastructure project in global history, well, anything goes. |
| 1:12.3 | The Belt is the overland connection from China to Europe. The road is the sea connection. Got that? |
| 1:19.3 | Professor Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, |
| 1:25.1 | is here in the briefing room with a quick primer on the numbers. |
| 1:28.3 | Well, the Bell and Road Initiative is now the flagship foreign policy initiative of the Chinese government. |
| 1:35.5 | It is about using excess Chinese capital and industrial capacity to build infrastructures. |
| 1:41.7 | It is a project that has already involved |
| 1:44.2 | $300 billion worth of investments |
| 1:47.9 | in something like 65 countries, |
| 1:51.7 | and it will be involving $1 trillion going forward. |
| 2:05.7 | I apologize you'll be humming that music next year. |
| 2:09.9 | Theresa May is in China dancing to it right now, if awkwardly. |
| 2:12.9 | But what does it actually look like in practice? |
| 2:18.2 | We invited two people into the briefing room who've seen this extraordinary project in operation, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.