Traders And Borders

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) could in a decade, lead all trade routes to China. Could the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue save the day?

- Manish Kumar Jha

CHINA INVOKES THE ROMANTICISM of the Silk Route in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), now better known as the One Belt One Road (OBOR) advantage. The Silk Route was a bustling trading track that had literally carried Chinese silk (and subsequently other goods and spices) to Europe through the rest of Asia between the 2nd Century B. C. and the 14th Century B. C. Should Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dream come true, BRI or OBOR will go beyond the Silk Route to traverse three continents, 68 nations and 60 percent of the world’s population.

China is willing to spend more than $1 trillion on the infrastructure involved in the project. Factoring in the fact that the Asian market is destined to prove the most vibrant and dynamic in the 21st Century, China will no doubt, set the rules for trade and commerce in the region. All trade roads will lead to China. If all goes well (for China), at the end of a decade its trade with the world could swell to a mind-boggling $3 trillion.

That the world was not willing to stand and stare, became evident in Manila on November 11, 2017. On the sidelines of regional summits during United States President, Donald Trump’s first visit to East Asia, the “Indo-Pacific” moniker was heard again. The term had been first coined a decade back.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had conceived the grouping of the four “like-minded democracies” or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) in 2007.

Addressing the Indian Parliament on August 22, 2007 Premier Abe had spoken of an “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity along the outer rim of the Eurasia continent” and a “broader Asia spanning the entirety of the Pacific Ocean, incorporating the United States of America and Australia.” Abe said then that “open and transparent, this network will allow people, goods, capital and knowledge to flow freely”.