A concern persistently plaguing New Delhi has been Beijing’s growing presence as well as collaboration with India’s neighbours. One quintessential example of this is the Belt and Road Initiative. Envisaged in 2013, the projecthas attracted global ire owing to its attempt at neocolonial debt trap diplomacy. This simply translates into China using unpayable debts to control less powerful states that would ultimately collapse under the weight of financially spurious projects. (The Hambantota port is another recent example).
Naturally, India’s position on the BRI has mostly been one of suspicion. More specifically, India’s reservations have increasingly boiled down to a single point, namely, that the BRI project has been subsumed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and is being implemented in areas of Pakistan that are considered Indian territories. This entails a violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In this context, New Delhi’s decision to boycott the forum in 2017 was expected to leave India isolated and plunge the already complicated relationship with China into outright hostility. However, as membership into the BRI grew along with growing concerns from the international bodies such as the EU, it appears as if Chinais willing to recalibrate some of its objectives surrounding the BRI.
This became visible in the latest speech delivered by Mr. Xi Jinping at the 2nd BRI Forum on April 26, where India remained a prominent absentee. The new buzzwords in Xi’s speech such as “quality development,” “innovation,”“multilateralism,” including a stated commitment to “transparency and sustainability of BRI projects” clearly point to the new direction BRI is taking.
While it is true that Xi Jinping’s words on transparency and inclusivity will be welcomed in India, this will not ease India’s concerns. Vikram Misri, the Indian ambassador to China in a recent press conference, reiteratedto the Chinese state media, citing India’s concern where he explained that “connectivity initiatives must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty, equality and territorial integrity of nations.”
New Delhiis concerned over the inroads that BRI is making not just in Pakistan, but in other parts of South Asia as well,via the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor and the Nepal-China Trans-Himalayan Multi-dimensional Connectivity Network. These could infringe India’s sovereignty too. Even so, a change in stance was observed in India’s position; despite the fact that it snubbed the forum for the second time,unlike in 2017, it chose to drop its harsh rhetoric against the China.
However, given the concerns where India is among the first countries to express displeasure or oppose the project, the Chinese position comes as a surprise. Though one might concede that Jinping’s statement at the second Belt and Road Forum is meant to placate the global consternations expressed by heavyweight countries such as US, Germany, France, UK among others, yet the Chinese have made it visible in their statements that India-China ties will not be looked at solely from the BRI prism.The Indian side has started exhibiting such optimism too.
One pertinent example is India narrowing its trade deficit with China where India’s exports to jumped to 31 % in the year to almost $17 billion, in the preceding financial year’. Evidently these instances do portray an increasing intent towards cooperation, a phenomena noticed right after the Wuhan summit, but the onus now lies on the Chinese to maintain that momentum.
India Outbound
May 6, 2019
source https://indiaoutbound.org/belt-and-road-initiative-india-china-relations/
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