China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is completing a decade. There have been varied responses to the Initiative from countries and regions besides the emergence of alternative initiatives and narratives. This sets the stage for evaluating the robustness of the Initiative, its implementation as well as its implications from the perspective of individual countries and regions across the globe. The book contextualises domestic discourses on the subject; identifies and highlights a number of broad trends from different regions and countries; and provides valuable insights in terms of the BRI and the emerging perceptions, contradictions and concerns in participating countries, although cooperation has been the main official agenda from the Chinese side. The book begins by examining China’s domestic, economic, maritime and strategic interests as drivers for the Initiative. BRI has been analysed in country-specific, regional and continental contexts. It brings out the experiences and responses from South Asia, Eurasia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, Latin America, the Caribbean as well as from Europe and Africa. Further, BRI has been studied in the larger context of the US-China competition. The final section explores BRI in the context of the twin challenges of recent times, i.e., the pandemic and Russia-Ukraine conflict. The book concludes with an epilogue which outlines the broad trends related to BRI that have emerged from this study of ICWA. Contents Foreword Contributors Introduction PART I: BRI: Thematic Perspectives 1. China’s BRI since 2013: Domestic Drivers, Conceptual Discourse and Policy Pronouncements Sanjeev Kumar 2. Beijing’s Ambitious 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Pragya Pandey 3. Economic Implications of BRI Rahul Nath Choudhury 4. The United States and China: The StrategicCompetition and Response Stuti Banerjee and Ankita Dutta PART II: BRI in South Asia 5. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Pursuing Agenda amid Conflict Situation DhrubajyotiBhattacharjee 6. China and Bangladesh under the Rubric of BRI Teshu Singh 7. BRI in Sri Lanka and Maldives: Economic, Political and Security Dynamics SamathaMallempati 8. China’s BRI in Nepal: Complexities and Concerns Naresh Kumar B. K. 9. China, Afghanistan and BRI Anwesha Ghosh PART III: BRI in China’s Neighbouring Regions: Eurasia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia 10. China’s BRI and its Neo-mercantilist Approach in Central Asia Punit Gaur 11. Russia-China Cooperation and the BRI Himani Pant 12. Japan’s Approach to BRI: Between Cooperation and Competition Jojin V. John 13. BRI: Responses from South Korea Jojin V. John 14. China-Mongolia Relations and the Economic Corridor Sudeep Kumar 15. Economic Statecraft through BRI in Southeast Asia TemjenmerenAo PART IV: BRI in Arab World 16. BRI and the WANA Region: An Assessment Fazzur Rahman Siddiqui 17. BRI: An Era of New Arab-China Engagement Arshad PART V: BRI in Continental Context: Europe, Africa and Latin America 18. BRI: Narratives and Counter-Narratives from Europe Ankita Dutta 19. BRI in Africa: From Enthusiasm to Dilemma SankalpGurjar 20. BRI in Latin America and Caribbean: Expectations and Challenges Stuti Banerjee PART VI: BRI and Two Challenges of Recent Times 21. BRI: Challenges of Pandemic and Conflict Athar Zafar 22. Epilogue: Regions and Reflections Sanjeev Kumar Index About the Editor: Dr. Sanjeev Kumar is a Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi. He has been a Member and Coordinator of ICWA’s Core Group on China, and a Member of Vivekananda International Foundation’s China Experts Group. His research interests include: domestic dynamics of China, India-China relations, and China’s foreign and neighbourhood policy. Dr. Kumar has published research papers in reputed journals and contributed chapters in volumes published in India, China, and the US. His recent co-edited publications include China and the Eurasian Region: Geographic and Geopolitical Influences. Dr. Kumar has been a Visiting Fellow to the School of International Studies, Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He was selected for the Visiting Program for Young Sinologists 2016 in Beijing. He has been a Referee for journals and external examiner for Ph.D. theses. He is a recipient of the ASIA Fellows Award and has conducted field research in Shaanxi, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces of China. Dr. Kumar is also the Coordinator of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP)-India National Committee at the ICWA. He regularly participates in Track 1.5 and 2 dialogues associated with multilateral institutions such as BRICS, SCO, CSCAP and ARF as well as various academic and policy dialogues with Chinese think tanks and research institutes including Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs and the CASS.