China's Silent Army: the pioneers, traders, fixers and workers who are remaking the world in Beijing's image [Audio]

Summary: Speaker(s): Heriberto Araujo, Juan Pablo Cardenal | Frustrated by the facile, pro-business commentary of so much writing on China and the evasions of Beijing's official pronouncements, two China-based journalists made a drastic decision to see for themselves just how rapidly China is spreading its influence around the world. Many thousands of miles and twenty-five countries later, China's Silent Army is the result: an unprecedented attempt to meet the many Chinese who, through hard work, ingenuity and ruthless business practices are rapidly moving much of the world into Beijing's orbit - from Peruvian mines to Siberian forests, Sudanese dams to Burmese jade mines. The implications of what they are doing - politically, ecologically and economically - are profoundly disturbing and particularly topical in light of the Eurozone crisis and the diminishing economical presence of the West. A disturbing and revealing piece of investigative journalism into the unknown extent of China's global power. Heriberto Araújo arrived to Beijing in early 2007, initially working for the AFP agency as Spanish correspondent in Beijing, and then as a freelance reporter for both French and Spanish media. Juan Pablo Cardenal has been reporting from and about China and the Asia-Pacific region since 2003 - first as Shanghai correspondent for El Mundo, and later from Singapore and Beijing for El Economista. He is currently based in Hong Kong.