Francisco José Leandro received a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from the Catholic University of Portugal in 2010. From 2016 to 2017 he participated in a post-doctoral research programme on state monopolies in China and One Belt One Road studies. In 2014 and 2017, he was awarded the Institute of European Studies in Macao (IEEM)’s Academic Research Grant, which is a major component of the Asia-Europe Comparative Studies Research Project. From 2014 to 2018, he was the Programme Coordinator at the Institute of Social and Legal Studies of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Saint Joseph in Macao, China. He is currently an Associate Professor and Associate-Dean of the Institute for Research on Portuguese-speaking Countries at the City University of Macao, China. His most recent books are: Steps of Greatness - The Geopolitics of OBOR (2018); The Challenges, Development and Promise of Timor-Leste (2019): The Belt and Road Initiative: An Old Archetype of a New Development Model (2020) published by Palgrave MacMillan; China and Portuguese-speaking Countries Small Island States: From sporadic bilateral exchanges to a comprehensive multilateral platform, published by City University of Macao, China.