China's Belt & Road Initiative in Cambodia

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) started with lofty ambitions.

This massive China-led infrastructure project has been called one of the most “one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived.” The vast network of overland corridors and maritime shipping routes was announced in 2013 by president Xi Jinping, and based on the Silk Road, one of the world’s original trade routes and a critical source of connectivity between Asia and the Mediterranean and European world. In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on his Chinese counterparts for funding over the next couple of years as he pushes for the country's ascent from a low-income to a middle-income country. But while positive aspects of improved infrastructure are clear, underlying problems with land tenure and other rights could stifle success.

To help explore some key concepts of BRI, today’s episode focuses on the new expressway running between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville on the coast, the location of the country’s only deep water port and the site of ambitions to make a second major city in the Kingdom.