The China sponsored ‘One Belt One Road’(OBOR) project has caught India by surprise, said Srikanth Kondappally, Professor of Chinese Studies, JNU.
Delivering the valedictory address at the conference on ‘India, China and the new Silk Road Initiatives’ organised by the Mahatma Gandhi University, Prof. Kondappally said while the proposed global scale of the projects connecting Europe, Asia and Africa could provide an opportunity for expanding trade and investments it also challenged the national security of the country as the projects are passing through the India-claimed Kashmir regions currently held by Pakistan.
OBOR projects, if pursued vigorously are expected to connect the ‘heartland’ with the ‘rim land through continental and maritime routes and thus at one stroke make the rising China indispensable in the calculations of any country in the region, he said.
For India, regional and global leadership issues are also a consideration in the OBOR initiative. On the other hand, India also has its own initiative of Project Mausam of reviving commercial and cultural linkages with the Indian Ocean region and beyond, he noted.
Kandaswami Subramanian from Chennai Centre for China Studies, said that the global economic crisis leading to the collapse of exports has fuelled the rebalancing in China.
The earlier economic model had created excess capacity in major sectors like steel, transport, cement, metals. These excess capacities coupled with the management capability of Chinese public and private firms beg for opportunities abroad. These arrangements also seek to challenge the U.S. hegemony and the threat posed through its ‘Pivot Asia’ and TPP negotiations to dislodge China.
Another dimension of the OBOR may be related to China’s ‘going out’ policy, i.e. outward investment, beginning with the turn of this century.
M.J. Vinod, Professor, University of Bangalore, cautioned that while the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is exclusively economic in orientation, yet it could still have strategic implications for India.
Though India cannot ignore the new Asian order that is fast emerging, the onus also lies on China in assuaging India’s concerns pertaining to the MSR.
K.B. Usha of the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, JNU, pointed out that Chinese logistical initiative has expanded after the Ukraine crisis sharing the vision of Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Russia-China strategic partnership is thus growing, she said. Raju A. Thadikkaran, former director, ICCS, chaired the valedictory session.
‘It will connect the ‘heartland’ with the ‘rim land through continental and maritime routes.’