Executive Director Jean-Marc F. Blanchard Gives Speech at Royal University of Cambodia

In late October, Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Founding Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), gave a talk to the Institute for International Studies and Public Policy, Royal University of Cambodia (Phnom Penh). During his talk, entitled, “How do We Approach International Relations as an IR Scholar? The Case of China’s Digital Silk Road in Malaysia and Thailand,” Dr. Blanchard discussed how some of these terms might be defined, offered some thoughts on what it means to be an “IR Scholar” in terms of what one researches and how one should conduct research. Dr. Blanchard talked about the Wong MNC Center’s multi-year project on China’s Digital Silk Road Initiative (DSR) and discussed two DSR case studies within the framework of his argument about how one should approach international relations as an IR scholar. After his talk concluded, Dr. Blanchard presented a copy of the Wong MNC Center’s latest book, Chinese Overseas Ports in Europe and the Americas (Routledge, 2024), to Dr. Chandarith Neak, Director of IISPP (see picture). He later presented copies of various Wong MNC orchestrated books on China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative to Professor Sovinda Po.