The Impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia: Evaluating Risks and Benefits

Yos Santasombat is Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Director, China-Southeast Asian Studies Center, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, and Senior Research Scholar, Thailand Research Fund. He is the author of numerous books, including Lak Chang: A Reconstruction of Tai Identity in Daikong (Canberra: Pandanus Books, ANU, 2001); Biodiversity, Local Knowledge and Sustainable Development (Chiang Mai: RCSD, 2003, 2014); Flexible Peasants: Reconceptualizing the Third World’s Rural Types (Chiang Mai: RCSD,2008); The River of Life: Changing Ecosystems of the Mekong Region (Chiang Mai: Mekong Press, 2011); as well as the edited volumes Impact of China’s Rise in the Mekong Region (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia: Cultures and Practices (Palgrave Macmillan 2017), The Sociology of Chinese Capitalism: Challenges and Prospects (Palgrave Macmillan 2019), and Transnational Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia: Case Studies from Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore (Springer 2022).