BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI)
Source: Hindu
China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a strategy initiated by the People’s Republic of China that seeks to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks with the aim of improving regional integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth.
The name was coined in 2013 by China’s President Xi Jinping, who drew inspiration from the concept of the Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty 2000 years ago –an ancient network of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean via Eurasia for centuries. The BRI has also been referred to in the past as’ One Belt One Road.’
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The BRI comprises a Silk Road Economic Belt –a transcontinental passage that links China with south-east 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 south-east and south Asia, South Pacific, Middle East and Eastern Africa, all the way to Europe.
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Key Points
- New Silk Road Economic Belt: It encompasses trade and investments hubs in the north of China by reaching out to Eurasia including the link via Myanmar
- Maritime Silk Road: It begins via the south china sea going towards India-China, South-East Asia and then around the Indian Ocean thus reaching Africa and Europe
Five major priorities
- Policy coordination
- Infrastructure connectivity
- Unimpeded trade
- Financial integration
- Connecting people
BRIs Investments in Countries
- China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC): China pledged $62 billion in low interest and financing from Chinese state-owned banks and Asian Development Bank (ADB), up from an initial pledge of $46billion. CPEC envisioned multiple projects involving energy, transport, and communication systems
- Sri Lanka: The island nation in the last couple of years has witnessed competition between India and China in port and terminal projects. In 2021 Sri Lanka ejected India and Japan out of a deal to develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo port and got China to take up the project
- Afghanistan: Afghanistan has not been comprehensively brought into BRI, despite of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). China had promised investments worth $100 million in Afghanistan which is small in comparison to what it shelled out in other South Asian countries
- Maldives: One of the most prominent BRI projects undertaken in the Maldives is the two long km China- Maldives Friendship Bridge
- Bangladesh: Bangladesh joined in BRI in 2016, and has been promised the second highest payment in Southeast Asian region after Pakistan
Important Points
- The BRI has been associated with a very large programme of investments in infrastructure development for ports, roads, railways and airports, as well as power plants and telecommunication networks. Sine 2019, Chinese state-led BRI lending volumes have been in decline.
- BRI now places increasing emphasis on high-quality investment including through greater use of project finance, risk mitigation tools and green finance.
- The BRI is an increasingly important umbrella mechanism for china’s bilateral trade with BRI partners; as of March 2020, the number of countries that have joined the Belt and Road Initiative by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with china is 138.
Conclusion:
U.S. President Joe Biden along with his G7 allies unveiled the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), largely seen as a counter to China's multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
The collective mobilisation of $600 billion by 2027 to deliver game-changing and transparent infrastructure projects to developing and middle-income countries.
