BRI and India 24/04/2019 – Posted in: Daily News

BRI and INDIA

For: Preliminary, Mains: GS II
Topics Covered: International Relations

 

News Flash

India stayed away from the launch of the Forum in 2017 despite considerable pressure from Beijing, and this time again India will sit out from the meeting.

 

Challenges for India

  • China’s BRI has pressed Delhi to get its act together on regional connectivity. India is considering to work with others, especially Japan, Australia and the United States, in promoting regional connectivity in the Indo-Pacific.
  • The BRI is more than two-dimensional.

– The “belt” was about overland connectivity

– The “road” (in a peculiar twist) referred to the maritime corridors spreading out from China’s eastern seaboard.

– The additional dimensions of BRI are about connectivity in outer space and the digital domain.

India’s deep dependence on Chinese telecom giants is now a reality. So is the growing reliance of India’s neighbours  including Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka — on China’s space services.

 

China’s space silk road

  • At the heart of China’s space silk road is the BeiDou satellite navigation system. Over the weekend, China launched a satellite for the BeiDou system that is expected to rival the American Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian GLONASS and the European Galileo. The third generation BeiDou system will be operational by next year and is expected to provide better accuracy than the current Western and Russian systems.
  • As new ideas for space-based internet services emerge, China is well ahead of the curve. At the end of 2018, China launched the first of its planned constellation 320 satellites in the low-earth orbit. By the end of this year, a network of nine satellites is expected to demonstrate the possibilities for space based internet services. The entire fleet of 320 satellites under the Hongyan project is expected to be operational by 2025.

The Hongyan mega-constellation is designed to facilitate two-way communications at all times across all terrain, providing a wide range of civilian services such as ground data collection and exchange, ship identification and tracking, mobile broadcasting and navigation signal enhancement.

 

BRI

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR) or the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, is a development strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organizations in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

“Belt” refers to the overland routes for road and rail transportation, called “the Silk Road Economic Belt”; whereas “road” refers to the sea routes, or the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

 

Projects:

  • Djibouti: Doraleh Multi-purpose Port and the Hassan Gouled Aptidon international airport.
  • Ethiopia: Chinese companies were contracted to supersede the century-old Ethio-Djibouti Railways by constructing a new electric standard gauge Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway. The new railway line, stretching more than 750 kilometres (470 mi) and travelling at 120 km/h (75 mph), shortens the journey time between Addis Ababa and Dijbouti from three days to about 12 hours.
  • Kenya: Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway
  • Nigeria: Nigeria’s first standard gauge railway
  • Sudan: China-Sudan in the past has achieved the country’s energy independence by establishing its own oil industry. China is also providing agricultural assistance for example in the cotton industry. Future plans include developing railways, roads, ports, a nuclear power station, solar power farms and more dams for irrigation and electricity generation
  • Europe: Freight train services between China and Europe, The China–Belarus Industrial Park (SEZ)
  • Armenia: New Silk road
  • Argentina: Argentine-China Joint Hydropower Project, two hydroelectric dams
  • Thailand: Thai–Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone. solar, rubber, and industrial manufacturing plants in the zone.
  • Pakistan: Investments in transportation, energy and maritime infrastructure.
Ice Silk Road

In addition to the Maritime Silk Road, Russia and China are reported to have agreed jointly to build an ‘Ice Silk Road’ along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic, along a maritime route which Russia considers to be part of its internal waters.

Source: Indian Express