Muhammad Faisal
Introduction
When China announced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) over seven years ago, South Asia was the region where its first large-scale plans were implemented (Yuan 2019). Through vast investments to upgrade dilapidated infrastructure, China sought to improve inter-regional and intra-regional connectivity. China’s objective was to stabilize its restive periphery through enhanced economic connectivity and trade between Western Chinese provinces and neighbouring countries (Holt 2020).
Yet it is in South Asia that BRI is confronting its most pressing challenges. China seems unprepared for the impact that regional politics and local political economies could have on national and local governments as they work to see through the implementation of projects. From India-Pakistan tensions, to the Maldives and Sri Lanka leveraging their relations with China to balance India, and local politics influencing economic decision-making, BRI is under increasing strain. Indeed, BRI projects in South Asia have emerged as another battleground in the broader US-China strategic competition, in which Washington and New Delhi are actively pushing back against Chinese investment projects (Sharma 2019).
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