Belt & Road Initiatives

What is the Belt and the Road?

  • The strategy aims to connect Asia, Europe and Africa, particularly the developing East Asia economic circle at one end and developing European economic regions at the other.
  • The Belt refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt which comprises three overland routes: connecting China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe; linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia; and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the India Ocean.
  • The Road refers to the 21st century Maritime Silk Road designed to push trade from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other.

How will it be Implemented?

  • At its core, OBOR would need the eastern (developed) parts of China to trade with the US and developed countries, while the central and western provinces, which have witnessed minimal growth, will feed Asia’s developing countries.
  • However, a major roadblock for OBOR at present is the lack of infrastructure in South and Southeast Asia to foster trade.
  • China hopes to work with interested countries and improve connectivity of their infrastructure construction plans and technical standard systems.
  • OBOR also requires the construction of international trunk passageway and an infrastructure network connecting all sub-regions in Asia, and between Asia, Europe and Africa.

B&RI Forum 2017

Three years after the plan for the Belt and Road Initiative (B&RI) was announced, China concluded the first Belt and Road Forum in 2017. While 130 countries participated, of which at least 68 are now part of the $900-billion infrastructure corridor project, India boycotted the event, making its concerns public hours before the forum commenced in Beijing.

Doklam Standoff

The land in question spans 269 square kilometres on a sparsely populated plateau in western Bhutan, which has no diplomatic ties with China and coordinates its relations with Beijing through New Delhi. Bhutan said the road China has been building would run from the town of Dokola to the Bhutanese army camp at Zompelri.

A Strategic Area

  • For India, securing the Doklam Plateau is seen as essential to maintaining its control over a land corridor that connects to its remote northeastern States.
  • India has said the Chinese road project threatens its access to the corridor, while China has questioned why India should even have a say in a matter that concerns only Beijing and Bhutan.

Bhutan Angle

  • The border dispute between the two Asian hegemons and the small Buddhist kingdom has been going strong for more than six decades.
  • Besides the Doklam Plateau, disputed areas include the Jakarlung and Pasamlung valley in the north of Bhutan.
  • The latter two are important to China given their proximity to Tibet, and the former is salient to both China and India as it overlooks the Chumbi Valley and the Siliguri Corridor, also known as the Chicken’s Neck.
  • The Siliguri Corridor is strategically important to India as it is a gateway to India’s north-eastern states.
  • Chinese control over the Doklam Plateau is therefore perceived by India as a major security threat as it may result in isolating the north-eastern states from India’s mainland.

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