BRI is a mega-development project aimed at connecting Asia with Africa through different channels i.e. roads and rails and water channels along with the construction of 6 corridors to improve regional connectivity and integration among countries.
The term Belt Road Initiative was coined by President Xi Jinping of China in 2013, Xi Jinping has drawn inspiration from a corridor built during the Zeng dynasty some 2000 years to go to connect China with different countries and was named as silk route an ancient channel of trade routes that connect China with Eurasia via the Mediterranean. Earlier to that, the term BRI has also been branded as one belt one road (OBOR).
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The BRI encompasses a Silk Road Economic Belt – a trans-continental passage that links China with Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Russia, and Europe by land – and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, a sea route connecting China’s coastal regions with Southeast and South Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East, and Eastern Africa, all the way to Europe.
The five major initiatives
- Unimpeded trade
- Financial integration
- Policy coordination
- Connecting people and
- Infrastructure connectivity
The initiative is intended to have an investment of one trillion dollars mostly in infrastructure development and power generation and telecommunication.
At first, the BRI was not taken as the non-progressive unit, but now it has attained a lot of prevalence and with that its geographical scope has been widened. . Till now, BRI has covered 2/3rd of the population and has taken 70 countries in its loop with about 65% 0f world’s GDP. “The Belt and Road Initiative has offered ample opportunities, especially for South Asia, yet major players like India and the U.S. continue to oscillate between cooperation and competition”.
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Chinese hopes to achieve BRI
With the massive economic project, China has got economic and geopolitical motivations behind the project. Like Chinese president Deng Xiaoping, XI has been promoting self-confident China in all perspectives of development while keeping a slow trade relation with America.
According to numerous analysts, BRI is one of the stepping stones under the leadership of XI jinn ping. President XI sees the BRI project as one of the factors to push back the American pivot to Asia policy as well as it will also serve as the way for Chinese economic development. Under Xi, China now actively seeks to shape international norms and institutions and forcefully asserts its presence on the global stage,” writes CFR’s Elizabeth.
At the cost of BRI, the massive project encompassing almost all the regions of the world, the Chinese aimed to boost global economic links with the western world which were always disregarded. It has also been intended to promote the Xinjiang province which was previously neglected and was regarded as the home of the separatist movement, the Chinese labeled the Xingjian as the top priority as most of the development is going to be done from this province.
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Chinese headship is determined to avoid the middle-income trap by restructuring the economy.in the current scenario which has plagued a total of 90% of middle-income countries. Since 1960, the laborer wages have grown high and quality of life has been improved a lot, but countries struggle to then shift to producing higher-value goods and services.
Geopolitical implications of the BRI
Through BRI, China has become assertive towards its Silk route diplomacy to increase its influence over the globe. China is intended to spur a new round of globalization but in changing world order. They are all set to make China an economic global power. “The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS New Development Bank, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership are the “software of integration” – the financial pillars of trade and investment in this vision”.
The portion of investment on Hydrocarbon in BRI represents the contours through which China is likely to shape the framework of an intentional emerging Post carbon economy. They are taking guidance from the UN framework convention on climate change as the main steppingstone in this regard. A combing factor of climate energy and market behavior is making the production of fossil fuel energy highly uneconomic and is making a way of transition from fossil fuel production to a renewable energy source which currently China is deploying under the shadow of BRI.
China is considered to be the prominent leader in green technology and renewable energy source. Through the BRI, it will make its way toward the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy in the Eurasian region. China started working after the Whitehouse administration abandoned the American influence in the international politics of climate through its denial of policies on climate change.
China can develop its soft power cache and significant influence in the area of climate change across the region, especially in the 3rd world countries which are currently developing.
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The discourse is being generated that the American influence is relatively declining across the region because of the Chinese projection of BRI. Another factor in the US decline is the clumsy scheming of Foreign policy by the Trump administration, which has further delineated the US from the liberal international order and has opened a door for Chinese to make its claims further and to pursue its goal. The BRI is also indicating the further deepening of the relation between China and Russia and has also deepened the strategic partnership along the borders, the partnership is based on supplier-consumer relations.
Although, all the countries across the BRI don’t see the BRI as an economic gain, the govt. of India under the leadership of Narender Modi has shown reservation over the China-Pakistan economic corridor project.
The BRI now ups the ante for regional middle powers like Australia that have deftly attempted to hedge between the US and China. Australia’s foreign policymakers must weigh up the case for engaging with the BRI and having a seat at the table as China’s vision takes shape.
The writer is an International Relations graduate from National Defence University (NDU) Islamabad and a freelance writer. Currently, I am volunteering as Member Youth Parliament for PILDAT. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.