BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

Belt and Road initiative, previously known as one belt one road, is basically a strategic initiative taken by China to build strong connections between Asia and other continents to enhance the international relation of Asian countries with the other countries. This chapter is going to analyze the belt and road initiative and its purpose. Additionally, it has highlighted the belt and road initiative to be asserted in the context of China and also some key priorities of this initiative. 

Discussion 

Definition of belt and road initiative 

The Belt and Road Initiative is basically considered as a foreign policy initiated by China to enhance the economic condition of the country through the development of international relationships. In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced this new initiative and invited all the neighboring countries to join in this initiative. The main motive of this initiative is to improve regional integration, international relationships, trade increment, and economic development. 

As per the report of December 2021, all 145 countries are part of the belt and road initiative. Not only the Asian countries, some of the Middle East and North African countries also took part in this initiative. However, India is still not a part of this initiative. India does not support this Chinese initiative as one of the routes passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Due to this reason, representatives from New Delhi refused to join with the other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to support the initiative of China. Additionally, in recent times, it creates so much confusion as there are so many uncertainties associated with this initiative. For example, there are no projects mentioned which are covered by this initiative. 

Belt and Road initiative and China 

As per the previous discussion, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced their strategic initiative called the belt and road initiative to make their industrial relation more strong with other countries. As per the belt and road initiative, all the countries that came under this initiative get the facility to make their international relationship more strong through the land and maritime networks. Main reason from China’s point of view to introduce this initiative is to secure its own trade routes in a more advanced way. Moreover, they also have the intention to make all the countries interdependent on the Chinese economy. Along with this practice, China tries to construct a strong economic condition in their country and also make a strong political influence on the other nations. This initiative helps China to develop their intergovernmental communication to make advanced level government policies. 

Aims of belt and road initiative  

As per the official outline, some of the key aims of this initiative is discussed as follows:

• Promote the connection between Asian, African, and European countries and provide more strength in the industrial connection between the countries. 
• Focus on the diversity factors between all the countries and make an independent, stable, and sustainable development in all the countries. 
• Development of the ancient silk routes to develop the business in the different continents like Asia, Eastern Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. 
• Along with the business development, the development in the economic condition of those countries. 
• Development in connectivity with China and other countries to secure more infrastructure investment and development in regional cooperation. 
• Development in political influence to make more advanced-level policies for trading and business with other countries. 

International relation through belt and road initiative 

This initiative combines the development of two routes in order to make strong industrial relationships with other countries. 

• The silk route economic belt: This is a long-term visionary project for the development of infrastructure, connectivity, and economy. In this belt, there are six development corridors present to make connections between different countries. All six corridors are as follows 

1. New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor.
2. China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor. 
3. China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor. 
4. China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor.
5. Bangladesh-India-China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. 
6. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. 

• The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road: It connects China to different South-East Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Somalia, Egypt, and many more. It also connects the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Bengal, and many more. 

• Conclusion 

  From the above discussion, it can be concluded that this belt and road initiative plays a key role in the process of developing economic conditions and also building strong international relationships. However, there is some negative intention of China in this initiative, which reduces its value to some extent. Moreover, the working process of this initiative is not completely disclosed, so there are still some uncertainties associated with this. However, the increment in the number of countries joining in this initiative makes its future more bright and prospective.