Lisa Thompson

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative turns 10: Xi announces 8 new priorities, continues push for global influence

China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which now includes 44 African countries, got under way 10 years ago. President Xi Jinping launched it in 2013 with a first speech in Kazakhstan and a second one in Indonesia. The initiative is something of a trial-by-doing development policy enigma: it keeps China watchers chasing Xi’s next move to help define just what it is. The two speeches, however, give some lasting guidance. The Kazakhstan speech outlined five elements of the “Belt”: strengthening policy communication; road connectivity; currency circulation; people-to-people ties;

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bio

Lisa Thompson is a political economist and full Professor in the School of Government at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Since 1998 she has led participatory, community orientated research aimed at amplifying the development dynamics and contradictions between local and global in  international development and participatory democratic development initiatives. While located within international global political economy and development debates and dynamics, the research focus developed over past decades includes a strong action based component including both mutual learning and advocacy work with grassroots community groups, civil society, non-governmental organisations, social movements and ad hoc forms of community activism and mobilization from below. Lisa was the Director of the African Centre for Citizenship and Democracy from 2007 – 2022.