– By Shambhavi Mishra
China is one of the biggest countries in the world with their economy said to surpass even the United States by 2030. It has highlighted a type of mixed economy system with a basis of capitalism and a few ideas taken from its neighbor, the USSR.
However, although famous for being the fastest growing economy and already being in the second place just remotely being surpassed by the United States, it is also very widely known for their cheap quality goods that it exports all over the world and is notorious for its widely hated systems like the social credit system and the one child policy which was implemented nationwide for decades until finally coming to an end in 2016.
Recently, one of the many strategies adopted by this country is one that has caught the attention of many people worldwide. The belt and road initiative, which was previously known as the one belt one road, was a global attempt at an infrastructural development strategy adopted in 2013 and the idea was to invest in almost seventy different countries and international projects and organizations.
This initiative by the People’s Republic of China i’s focused to connect the Asian countries with the African and European countries by building maritime and land networks, often referring to the path as the “silk road.”
Issues with the Belt and Road Initiative
Although this strategy looks like a very good initiative taken up by the Chinese government, it has been widely disregarded and labelled as a “debt trap” as the growing trend of all the people that had been invested in, somehow all ended up being trapped by a huge amount of debt from hidden sources and China fails to acknowledge the claims. In a recent study conducted by AidData, it found some shocking discoveries: China has lent over $843 Billion in total, which includes $385 billion of unreported and under-reported debt over the several countries.
A report by the NGO called “China labor watch,” there is a huge human rights violation concerning the Chinese migrant workers that have been sent abroad. The Chinese companies have said to “commit forced labor” and forcefully kept the workers passports once they arrived back in their country, forced them to apply for illegal business visas, followed by giving them threats to report their “illegal status” to make them forcefully comply with any and every demand, withholding adequate medical attention, restricting freedom and speech, forcing to overwork, delayed wage payments, providing bad and unhygienic living conditions, and a lot more.
Since the BRI is only for 5 years, its full consequence and result are yet to be realized of course, but a preliminary assessment shows that the one hundred billion dollars that the country has put invested has not yielded any returns to the investors, and neither has there been any benefit to the political party. The debt of a collective of 27 BRI countries is said to be “trash” by the three rating agencies, and another fourteen have no rating at all.
In China, investments are driven by (geo)political needs rather than actual financial sense. In a paper written by Tanner Greer, they state that China aimed to make specific investments in places along “strategically selected economic corridors” that would connect China markets with those in other parts of the continent. This has, unfortunately, not seen in results. The analysis shows that most of the 173 projects concluded with the result of no relation between project activities and corridor participations, which indirectly points to the interest groups that in and outside of China are skewing president xi’s foreign policy views.
In the Maldives, the old pro-Beijing Progressive Party of Maldives was unseated and replaced by the Maldivian Democratic Party whose president calls BRI a debt trap and a cheat which needs to be abandoned or, at the very least, renegotiated.
The BRI in Latin America : A Case Study
The governments of the Latin American and Caribbean regions have not considered a change in their productive model(s) that are less dependent on natural resources and do advance in other sectors of strategical interest. China had been working according to a framework known as the 1+3+6 Mechanism. Three driving forces integrated by trade, investment, and financial cooperation and all supported by six key points: energy and resources, manufacturing, scientific-technical innovation, infrastructure, agriculture, and information technology. Beijing focuses its funds on direct infrastructure like bridges, highways, high speed trains and ports.
It is proposed that the modernization will aim for main connections between China and Europe that would have a carry capacity of three million TEU’s which would be like maritime transport.
Companies like CCCG (China Communications Construction Group) and various others are gaining power and opportunities to participate in global projects which is proving to be a benefit against its main competitor of many European countries. Near the end of 2016, a total of 2058 companies were found to be linked here, double as compared to when they started (1088). Port activity also saw massive expanding with the advance of BRI.
The progress towards Latin America occurred when the silk road belt and Panama got connected. Out of all the members of the BRI, thirteen belong to the Greater Caribbean region. Majorly agreed upon is that there are three major geopolitical objectives: becoming a relevant actor of power through financing and economic abilities, to increase foreign relations and balancing the American power in all regions with a view of making a multipolar international order.
Investments in Caribbean have been moderate but seen to have great local impact on economy. The attention given by the Asian giant has been important for the development of some Caribbean islands like the Bahamas with the construction of several tourist resorts, which includes five hotels along with others and the National Stadium at the cost of around 3.5 billion of dollars. It has also contributed to the construction of the Conference Center and a theater in Barbados, and a new airport terminal in Barbuda and Antigua.
On December 25th, 2021, Cuba officially signed a cooperative plan memorandum for the joint promotion of the BRI. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is an association for dialogue among its thirty-three members and with other countries and regional groups including the European Union, China, the Russian Federation, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, Turkey, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. As investments increased, challenges seemed to rise: the heavily concentrated in fossil fuels, metals, agriculture and other natural resources, Chinese investment in LAC has increasingly shifted towards manufacturing and services including industries such as transport, electricity, and financial services.
As of December 2021, 19 out of the thirty-three countries in Latin America have signed up for the BRI. But some of the most important partners, namely Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, have not yet officially signed up to the belt and road initiative. Still, China is now the biggest trading partner of Brazil and most of South America.
Conclusion
In all, it can be concluded that on the outside, it looks like a healthy and helpful investment, and maybe it was started with good intentions, but in the end it has ended up being something that was manipulated into a sort of power play, ending with no results neither economically nor politically. There has been a lot of criticism against the BRI and China fails to acknowledge the harsh comments and slander it has been getting for putting the countries into an unpayable amount of debt, but we should also look at this from China’s perspective: investing around 90 billion dollars into many different countries with no return is not a small thing, and even though both can be supported or detested.
onducted a total of five underground nuclear tests, breaking a 24-year self-imposed moratorium on nuclear testing. Pakistan followed, claiming 5 tests on May 28, 1998, and an additional test on May 30. The unannounced tests created a global storm of criticism, as well as a serious setback for decades of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation efforts in South Asia. On May 13, 1998, President Clinton imposed economic and military sanctions on India, mandated by Section 102 of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), and applied the same sanctions to Pakistan on May 30. Some effects of the sanctions on India included: termination of $21 million in FY1998 economic development assistance; postponement of $1.7 billion in lending by the International Financial Institutions (IFI), as supported by the Group of Eight (G-8) leading industrial nations; prohibition on loans or credit from U.S. banks to the government of India; and termination of Foreign Military Sales under the Arms Export Control Act. Humanitarian assistance, food, or other agricultural commodities are excepted from sanctions under the law. 
The first ministerial level meeting of QUAD was held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Before this, the QUAD had
AusIndEx is an exercise between India and Australia which was first held in 2015.The Australian 
On recommendations of the Japanese government, the four countries met at Manila, Philippines for ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) originally, but also ended up having a meeting of what we call the first meeting of four nation states on issues of 
On his official visit to India, Japanese PM Mr. Shinzo Abe reinforced the ties of two nations, i.e., Japan and India with his famous speech about 
In 2007, Japanese President Shinzo Abe resigned from his post citing health reasons. This had a significant impact on QUAD as he was the architect & advocate of QUAD. His successor, Yasuo Fukuda, did not take up QUAD with such zeal leading to dormancy of the forum. (
Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011, also called Great Sendai Earthquake or Great Tōhoku Earthquake, was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake which struck below the floor of the Western Pacific at 2:49 PM. The powerful earthquake affected the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island, and also initiated a series of large tsunami waves that devastated coastal areas of Japan, which also led to a major nuclear accident. Japan received aid from India, US, Australia as well as other countries. US Navy aircraft carrier was dispatched to the area and Australia sent search-and-rescue teams. 
India and Australia signed the 
The India-Japan Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy was signed on 11 November, 2016 and came into force on 20 July, 2017 which was representative of strengthening ties between India and Japan. Diplomatic notes were exchanged between Dr. S. Jaishankar and H.E. Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India. (
The foreign ministry
The Officials of QUAD member countries met in Singapore on November 15, 2018 for consultation on regional & global issues of common interest. The main discussion revolved around connectivity, sustainable development, counter-terrorism, maritime and cyber security, with the view to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the 
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US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue was held on 18 December, 2019, in Washington DC. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper will host Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar and Minister of Defense Shri Rajnath Singh. The discussion focussed on deepening bilateral strategic and defense cooperation, exchanging perspectives on global developments, and our shared leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.The two democracies signed the Industrial Security Annex before the 2+2 Dialogue. Assessments of the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Indian Ocean region in general were shared between both countries. (
The foreign ministers of QUAD continued their discussions from the last ministerial level meeting in 2019, on 6 October, 2020. While there was no joint statement released, all countries issued individual readouts. As per the issue readout by India, the discussion called for a coordinated response to the challenges including financial problems emanating from the pandemic, best practices to combat Covid-19, increasing the resilience of supply chains, and enhancing access to affordable vaccines, medicines and medical equipment. There was also a focus on maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific region amidst growing tensions. Australian media release mentions “We emphasised that, especially during a pandemic, it was vital that states work to ease tensions and avoid exacerbating long-standing disputes, work to counter disinformation, and refrain from malicious cyberspace activity. Ministers reiterated that states cannot assert maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
On September 24, President Biden hosted Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan at the White House for the first-ever in-person Leaders’ Summit of the QUAD. The leaders released a Joint Statement which summarised their dialogue and future course of action. The regional security of the Indo-Pacific and strong confidence in the ASEAN remained on the focus along with response to the Pandemic. 
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Secretary of State Colin Powell stated that the Core Tsunami Group was to be disbanded and folded and clubbed with the broader United Nations led Relief Operations. In a Tsunami Relief Conference in Jakarta, Secretary Powell stated that 
Soon after the Earthquake and Tsunami crisis, humanitarian reliefs by countries, viz., US, India, Japan, and Australia started to help the 13 havoc-stricken countries. The US initially promised $ 35 Millions in aid. However, on 29
At 7:59AM local time, an earthquake of 9.1 magnitude (undersea) hit the coast of Sumatra, an Indonesian island. As a result of the same, massive waves of Tsunami triggered by the earthquake wreaked havoc for 7 hours across the Indian Ocean and to the coastal areas as far away as East Africa. The infamous Tsunami killed around 225,000 people, with people reporting the height of waves to be as high as 9 metres, i.e., 30 feet. Indonesia, Srilanka, India, Maldives, Thailand sustained horrendously massive damage, with the death toll exceeding 200,000 in Northern Sumatra’s Ache province alone. A great many people, i.e., around tens of thousands were found dead or missing in Srilanka and India, mostly from Andaman and Nicobar Islands of Indian territory. Maldives, being a low-lying country, also reported casualties in hundreds and more, with several non-Asian tourists reported dead or missing who were vacationing. Lack of food, water, medicines burgeoned the numbers of casualties, with the relief workers finding it difficult to reach the remotest areas where roads were destroyed or civil war raged. Long-term environmental damage ensued too, as both natural and man-made resources got demolished and diminished.
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