Jacob, Jabin T.

Abstract: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is often sold as a project that aims to meet the infrastructure deficit in many underdeveloped parts of the world. However, Chinese projects under the BRI come with features that have negative short-term and long-term implications for the host countries in question. Chinese project financing almost uniformly lacks transparency, including about the terms of this financing, and is accompanied by uncertainty about local benefits such as employment and by poor standards. This paper begins by highlighting some key features of Chinese infrastructure projects under the BRI, before it examines, in detail, the financing of these projects, particularly in South Asia. The article concludes by stating that China’s success in pushing the BRI – despite its several problems – is the result of the inability of democratic nations to come up with feasible alternatives that respect local sensitivities and conditions in the countries in need of infrastructure development. India, especially, has much to reflect upon in respect of its own methods and approaches towards its neighbours and towards overseas development assistance in the wake of China’s BRI. Full text available here.