Is China’s Belt and Road Initiative boosting academic links?

Data on the growth of scholarly collaboration across Asia, the Middle East and eastern Europe suggest Beijing’s grand strategy could be having an impact

Published on

May 14, 2019

Last updated

March 3, 2020

Simon Baker

Source: iStock

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Print headline: Is Belt and Road driving closer ties between academics?

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Reader's comments (2)

#1 Submitted by Godfree Roberts on May 14, 2019 - 8:05am

Professor Robertson is correct when she says, “There have been funds made available for them to develop their own transnational strategies.” A Thai friend's 16-year-old daughter won a Chinese scholarship and is at a special BRI school in China with classmates from Russia, Uzbekistan and Malaysia, preparing to serve the closer integration of the region.

#2 Submitted by p.a.... on May 14, 2019 - 3:56pm

I have just returned from the The “International Conference on Silk-road Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development” May 11-12, 2019 in Beijing. More than 780 senior researchers and academics, policy‐makers, practitioners, universities and institution leaders, organizations and private sectors from over 40 countries participated this conference. The “Alliance of International Science Organizations on Disaster Risk Reduction” was established. This alliance is designed to strengthen science‐based disaster risk reduction across the four stated outcomes of data and knowledge, dissemination, monitoring and review, and capacity building. The Chinese government are making substantial funds available for geomorphological and archaeological research amongst other disciplines, broadly focussed on identifying and finding solutions to minimize or mitigate the impact of Belt & Road Initiative. Delegates from countries along the proposed routes in central Asia were notably present.