Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

While still in the evolution stage, BRI has the potential to be a game changer in China’s quest to shape a ‘Sino-Centric’ Global Order.

• G.G. Dwivedi
• May 22, 2019
• IDSA Comments

Pakistan’s largest donor has been the United States of America, granting around $ 70 bn in aid. In 2015, China, as part of its One Belt One Road global ambitions, promised Pakistan $ 46 bn (since revised to $ 60 bn), for a road running from its border to the port of Gwadar. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is being seen as a ‘fate-changer’ for Pakistan. CPEC could change Pakistan’s fate in more ways than one; this article explores the domestic and regional consequences of China’s involvement in Pakistan, and what this will mean for South Asia and for India.

• S. Akbar Zaidi
• May 2019
• Strategic Analysis

This article explains the Sino-Indian geo-economic competition in Bangladesh in the wake of the former’s launching of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Beijing intends to fund various large-scale infrastructure projects in Bangladesh under the BRI which has prompted India to make its own offer of economic assistance to counter the Chinese initiative. The Sino-Indian competition has created challenges and opportunities for Bangladesh. Dhaka is pursuing a balanced policy to manage the competition and advance its own interests.

• Bhumitra Chakma
• May 2019
• Strategic Analysis

Regional strategic dynamics in South Asia is in a state of flux since the announcement of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China emphasises on the economic aspect of investment in infrastructures and energy projects, but strategic underpinning are very much apparent. China loan has created indebtedness in these countries and has helped Beijing to gain strategic foothold in the region which India considers as core to its security. India’s aid programme though focuses on the neighbourhood, it remains small compared to China and suffers from delivery deficit.

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• May 2019
• Strategic Analysis

Chinese President Xi Jinping initially proposed to build an ‘economic belt’ and a ‘21st-century Maritime Silk Road’ in 2013 which were formalised as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) in a document—‘Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road’—released by the National Reform and Development Commission in 2015.

• Bhumitra Chakma
• May 2019
• Strategic Analysis

China's Belt and Road Initiative helps African countries in reducing the infrastructure gap in the region. However, it also leaves them open to the risk of unsustainable debt.

• Ruchita Beri
• April 15, 2019
• IDSA Comments

India’s rejection of the BRI for strategic reasons does not mean it is resistant to Chinese investments, which are—to the contrary—both welcome and rapidly increasing. Indian strategy in this respect is in accord with the changing character of the international system, where strategic competition co-exists with economic cooperation as well as competition. In contemporary international politics, structurally driven conflictive behaviour is modified by high levels of strategic and economic interdependence.

• Rajesh Basrur
• March 2019
• Strategic Analysis

The successful conclusion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Summit in Beijing recently has raised a number of questions about India’s strategy to counter the Chinese project. The One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative which China is implementing along with other partners is primarily aimed at strengthening its economy which was impacted by the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. Through this flagship scheme China will develop large-scale projects in infrastructure such as roads, railway lines, sea ports and airports.

• Montgomery Blah
• July 2018
• Strategic Analysis

For the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to succeed, China needs to engage in serious and sincere dialogue with BRI participants, ensure respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, uphold the internationally accepted norms of transparency and observe principles of financial responsibility, among other key issues.

• Ashok Sajjanhar
• November 28, 2017
• IDSA Comments

The inclusion of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Charter of the Communist Party of China indicates that it is not merely an economic policy but rather a ‘political project’.

• Jagannath P. Panda
• November 07, 2017
• IDSA Comments