India and China's 'One Belt, One Road' Initiative

Abstract

India’s response to China’s ‘new Silk Roads’ or ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiative is a good example of the problems that best the India-China relationship. Neither country has quite managed to put in the effort required to pull their bilateral ties out of the deep freeze of suspicion and distrust that came about as a result of the conflict of 1962. And with China’s economic and political rise in addition to its military build-up, doubts about Chinese intentions vis-à-vis India and its South Asian neighbourhood have grown even if India too is growing and gaining economically including through its economic relationship with China. This article examines the ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiative and the reasons why it creates concerns in India. It looks at India’s response and the weaknesses of that response before examining two cases of Pakistan and the Indian Ocean in the context of ‘One Belt, One Road’ Initiative and the India-China relationship.