The new 1,000-kilometer-long railway connecting Kunming in southwestern China with the Laos capital Vientiane was officially opened on December 3rd. How will the new railway benefit the China-Laos economic corridor and the surrounding region?

Barbados has become the world's newest republic after 396 years of rule under the British monarchy and 55 years after the country became independent. Sandra Mason was sworn in the first president. What's the significance of the transition?

For this edition of Dialogue Weekend show, we have Tan Sri Datuk, Ong Tee Keat, Chairman of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia; Victor Gao Zhikai, Chair Professor of Soochow University; Zoon Ahmed Khan, Research Fellow at the Belt & Road Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University, and also Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization; and Steven Cleary, a guest reporter in Vientiane, Laos.