Context: Recently, Colombia formally agreed to join China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
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- The Latin America has emerged as a key battleground with respect to U.S. recent tariff confrontations with China.
- China has overtaken the United States to become the largest trading partner for Brazil, Peru, Chile, and several other Latin American countries.
- Additionally, around two-thirds of the nations in the South American region have joined China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
- In 2024, Peru inaugurated Latin America’s first China-funded port in Chancay, showcasing Asian superpower’s growing influence on the continent.
- However, earlier in February 2025, Panama became the first country to exit China’s Belt and Road Initiative. (Panama was the first country to join the BRI in Latin America.)
China’s Belt and Road Initiative
- The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched by China in 2013 with the aim of enhancing connectivity and fostering cooperation across continents.
- Initially called ‘One Belt, One Road,’ the initiative was renamed as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2016.
- The BRI comprises two core components, both centered around large-scale infrastructure development:
The Silk Road Economic Belt (referred to as the “Belt”)
The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (referred to as the “Road”)
- The overland “Belt” links China to Central and South Asia and onward to Europe. The maritime “Road” links China to the nations of South East Asia, the Gulf countries, East and North Africa, and on to Europe.
- Six overland economic corridors have been identified:
the China–Mongolia–Russia Economic Corridor
the New Eurasian Land Bridge
the China– Central Asia–West Asia Economic Corridor
the China–Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor
the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor
the Bangladesh–China–India– Myanmar Economic Corridor.
India’s Position on BRI
- India has declined to support China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative.
- India views the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which runs through disputed territory in Kashmir, as a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is a 3000 km long corridor connecting connecting Gwadar Port in Pakistan and China’s northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POk).
- BRI’s financial incentives lead to a debt trap making partner countries vulnerable to China’s influence.