One Belt, One Road: An Evolving Economic Order?

Ambitious China has kick-started One Belt, One Road (OBOR) summit. As news media reported that US, Russia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Nepal are participating in the OBOR summit in China. India has decided to skip this event. It is evident that a key part the OBOR runs through the Pak-Occupied Kashmir. In this backdrop, India expressed its concern over such contested territory though Chinese Premier reiterates the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity in this mammoth exercise.

It is estimated that China is going to infuse 1 trillion dollars. The massive infrastructure projects are underway in various countries like Pakistan and Laos. Such steps are addressing the lack of infrastructure in such countries. The economic and geopolitical projects are operational in continents like Asia, Africa, and Europe.

President Xi Jinping is the brain behind the OBOR and Chinese representatives are forging deals with various kinds of countries. Consistent with it, several South Asian countries like Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh jumped on the bandwagon of the OBOR.

Shedding light on this new emerging economic order, New York Times reported, “Mr. Xi is aiming to use China’s wealth and industrial know-how to create a new kind of globalization that will dispense with the rules of the aging Western-dominated institutions. The goal is to refashion the global economic order, drawing countries, and companies more tightly into China’s orbit.”
The report further added, “Under the “One Belt, One Road” plan, President Xi Jinping is remaking global trade and nurturing geopolitical ties. The audacious plan, with little precedent, promises more than $1 trillion in infrastructure investments that span 60-plus countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa.”

The Economist Intelligence Unit, (The Economist) worked on Prospects and challenges on the OBOR. It summarizes, “China’s approach to international diplomacy is evolving. Having long sought to maintain a “low profile” on the global stage, it has in recent years begun to advocate a greater role for itself in the international order. Chinese companies are also leaving the comforts of their home market and going overseas, seeking to tap fresh markets and acquire new technologies.”

It is evident that the international affairs are complex canvass and India should take a cautious and a calculated step to deal such evolving economic and geopolitical clout.