Tabita Rosendal is a Ph.D. student at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden, and an affiliate at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), Copenhagen, Denmark. Tabita’s current research concerns China’s domestic and foreign politics, with a special focus on the Maritime Silk Road, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, and its implementation and success in different ports. Her project analyzes the role and agency of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China and Sri Lanka in a bid to provide a nuanced account of Chinese strategic interests.