By Prateek Joshi
The Chinese Silk Road projects signal towards a new era of the changing geopolitical order across the Asian continent. With infrastructure corridors that span across the Asian landmass in the form of highways, railways, industrial parks, and oil and gas pipelines, the new Silk Road connects the landlocked regions of hinterland China with the sea ports around the continent.
Considered from the economic point of view, the projects aim to utilize the contiguity of Asian landmass to setup a network of infrastructure projects. These efforts intend to benefit the vast expanse of the Asian territory and potentially extend westwards, knocking the door of European markets. The linkage of industrial hubs to ports via efficient transportation will ease the connectivity of hinterland industrial products.
Specifically in the case of South and Southeast Asia, these developments depict a clear pattern of a gradual yet effective counter geopolitical game. For instance, by investing in Myanmar, China has successfully evaded the American geopolitical strategy of controlling strategic maritime routes, which oversee a huge volume of maritime trade. By increasing connectivity with India and Bangladesh, a new era of trans-border cooperation has begun, with long run intentions to link together South Asian and ASEAN economies. However, with regard to India, the Chinese Silk Road simultaneously offers modes of cooperation and resistance.
Three of the Silk Road's projects shall be examined in this case. First, the Myanmar-China Pipeline; second, the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor; and, third, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Myanmar-China Oil Pipeline
In early 2015, the Myanmar-China Pipeline project was completed, which involved the construction of an oil terminal at the coastal Maday Island. From this terminal, a 2,400 kilometer long oil pipeline runs across the Burmese territory and terminates at the Chinese province of Yunnan. The project has challenged the American hegemony by bypassing the Malacca straits route, where the Sixth Fleet of the US Navy has an overwhelming presence. Previously, 80% of Chinese hydrocarbon shipments crossed the Malacca straits and were subject to US controls. Wary of US dominion, the Chinese effort to construct alternative routes through Myanmar are a a Geopolitical victory in China’s quest to secure resource supply routes. At present, oil shipments are offloaded at the Maday Island terminal and subsequently transported to the Yunnan province. Though plans for a railway corridor from Myanmar’s Kyaukpyu have been shelved for the time being, it may soon be a reality, as the Chinese continue to link themselves to neighboring economies.
The Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor
Conceptualized in the 1990s as the ‘Kunming Initiative’, the BCIM Corridor was officially announced in 2013 with the aim to enhance sub-regional connectivity between these four nations. Besides connecting the Chinese markets with other Southeast and South Asian markets, BCIM Corridor, again, gives China a Geopolitical advantage by reducing its reliance on the Straits of Malacca. In a way, China is using India to balance against the US. Additionally, this initiative highlights and exploits the resource-rich Northeast Indian region. In the long-run, once the sea link southwards to the Burmese ports are fully operational, Northeast India’s lucrative exports will find a ready market in Chinines, ASEAN and markets. Moreover, Chinese investments in the BCIM corridor and its vicinity will propel foreward economic development in the region, thereby enhancing trade and capital and labour mobility.
China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
The latest strategic manoeuvre from the Chinese is the $46 billion CPEC, which was unveiled in April 2015 as a symbol of all-weather Sino-Pak bonhomie. The CPEC aims to extend the only existing overland link between Pakistan and China – the Karakoram Highway – to Pakistan’s Gwadar port, providing the Chinese with unhindered access to the Arabian Sea. In the long run, the proposed projects are expected to link Pakistan to Xinjiang through a vast network of railways too. Directly linking Arabian Seaport of Gwadar to China’s Xinjiang will enable China-bound shipments to circumvent the long maritime route used currently, which has to pass through the waters surrounding the Indian peninsula, a domain of the Indian Navy. The strategic circles in India view this as a Chinese move to secure its trade routes from India's interference. Thus, China is utilizing Pakistan to balance against the Indian domination of Indian Ocean’s Sea Lanes of Communication.
Conclusion
Besides expanding the reach of its markets, these projects have given a new geopolitical thrust to the Chinese strategic ambitions. Each project entails a unique strategic advantage plus a counterpoint to existing geostrategic levers held by powers like India (at a regional level) and the United States. Similar to classic cases of a geopolitical game, these projects are designed to alter the conventional Anglo-American geopolitical understanding, which relied on the ideas of the grandfathers of traditional geopolitical thinking, such as Halford Mackinder - who gave the idea of supremacy of land power – and Alfred Mahan – who theorized the supremacy of sea power. In contrast with these traditional views, the Chinese Silk Road combines both land and sea power, connecting the infrastructure of the Asian hinterland to the ports. In totality, this new geopolitical game establishes not only transnational cooperation, but, most importantly, defines a new era of ‘Counter Geopolitics’.
Prateek Joshi is a researcher from South Asian University in New Delhi, India and an intern analyst with Wikistrat.
