THE BRI AND THE INDO-PACIFIC: Reinventing Traditions

Edited by Bhavna Singh

Two major transformations defined the global geopolitics over the last decade guided by the relative decline in US influence-announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the resurgence of the Indo-Pacific as a sphere of traditional Indian influence. While China promptly used money, technology and institutions like the AIIB to gain influence amongst various countries across the globe, India as a ‘Vishwa Guru’ crafted its own role as an undeniable leader and partner under the paradigm of the Indo-Pacific. This volume is a preliminary effort in the direction of assessing how the world reacted to these profoundly momentous—binary yet complimentary trajectories, that will phenomenally continue to dictate and shape the future of the 21st century. Towards this objective this book looks at some case studies of the BRI as well as draws parallels from history through a study of traditional Indian and Chinese strategic thought.

Edited by Bhavna Singh

Bhavna Singh is the author of China’s Discursive Nationalism: Contending in Softer Realms, and has co-edited a volume on India, China and Sub-regional Connectivities in South Asia. She was awarded her PhD in Chinese Nationalism from the Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2021. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow (2023-2025) at the Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an in China under the CSC Language Scholarship working on Qing Dynasty trade. She previously worked as a consultant with the CCCS, MEA (2021-2023) and as an Associate Fellow with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS: 2018-2020). She was a Senior Research Officer with the China Research Programme at IPCS from 2010-2013.

Contents

Preface

Figures

Abbreviations

1 The BRI and the Indo-Pacific: Reinventing Traditions over a Turbulent Decade
Bhavna Singh

2 The BRI and China’s Charm Offensive in the Maldives
Eshita Rudra

3 China’s BRI and Responses from Provinces: The Case of Fujian Province
Md. Yasin

4 China’s BRI: Revisiting the Labyrinth Post a Decade
Gunjan Singh

5 Geopolitical Contestation in the Indo-Pacific and the Belt and Road Initiative: An Evolving Great Game in the Maritime World
Vishal Rajput

6 The Zheng He Voyages: China’s Encounters with the Sea-Faring Nations of the East and the Maritime Legacy
Anuraag Khaund

7 US-China Geopolitical Competition: A Showdown between the Indo-Pacific and the BRI
Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau

8 BRI: The Dragon’s Great Eurasian Sphere of Influence
Jayadev Parida

9 The BRI and South Asia: Tracing the Variations in Chinese Engagements
Cyriac S. Pampackal

10 Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power and Chinese Politics in the Indo-Pacific
Anuraag Khaund

Editor and Contributors

Index