The saga of CEFC and China’s push into Central and Eastern Europe

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Martin Hála, a China scholar from the Czech Republic and founder of the Project Sinopsis that seeks to inform the Czech public about China and its burgeoning role in the region, joins Kaiser Kuo in Prague to discuss the story behind the rise and fall of a mysterious Chinese company called CEFC.

This week’s show was recorded in Prague, where major developments in the continuing saga of a mysterious Chinese company called CEFC, with deep ties to the Czech president, Milos Zeman, unfolded during a recent visit by Kaiser. He spoke with Martin Hála of Charles University in Prague about the rise and fall of CEFC, and what this means not only for China’s efforts to expand its presence in Central and Eastern Europe, but also for China’s Belt and Road Initiative more broadly.

Recommendations:

Martin: An investigative journalistic piece on CEFC by Andrew Chubb.

Kaiser: An Atlantic article on the class divide in America by Matthew Stewart, titled “The birth of the new American aristocracy,” and one in The American Interest by Damir Marusic, titled “The dangers of democratic determinism.”