The international power brokers are now disseminating theory of illusions to compete with the Chinese One Belt & One Road. Since its inception in 2013 the western policy-makers have been conspiratorially creating confusions, contradictions, conflicts and illusions about its scope, utility and strategic importance through 5th generation hybrid war.
However, according to the Economist London (August 2023), in the last decade the BRI created 420,000 jobs and 40 million people lifted out of poverty in its member countries, vividly showing its push-forward stimulating power in the world.
Moreover, according to the World Bank, once completed, the BRI could lessen travel times along economic corridors by 12 percent, augment trade between 2.7 percent and 9.7 percent, raise incomes by up to 3.4 percent and alleviate 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty.
It is a good omen that China further prioritized promoting low carbon and green development under the BRI framework. To achieve this goal, China signed an MOU on building a green Belt and Road with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and more than 50 agreements on eco-environmental conservation with nations and international organizations reconfirming its political commitment and economic priority for green transformation in the BRI’s member countries.
China, through a cross-section of financial sources, ranging from government policy banks, commercial banks and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), set out to pour an estimated US$8tr into African, Asian and European nations under the BRI. In addition to physical infrastructure, China has created economic corridors between itself and Pakistan, Laos, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Mongolia and Russia.
Throughout the past decade, China has also signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with 152 countries and 32 international organizations with nations around the world.
The growth of its contribution to world trade are evident in rising foreign direct investment (FDI) figures: US$82bn in 2012, rising to US$154bn by 2020, making China the world’s number one overseas investor.
The genie of geopolitics and theory of illusions have once again come out of the bottle. In the just concluded G20 Annual Summit held in New Delhi the global leaders in its sideline announced the US-India-Middle East-Europe Corridor linking the Middle East and South Asia vividly reflects many short, medium and long term strategic measures of the G20 just countering China’s increasing economic ties in the Middle East and connectivity pace in Africa and the Chinese mega development project BRI around the globe.
Nevertheless, it starts a new end game in the region and beyond further consolidating anti-China rhetoric or empowering anti-BRI club to seek socio-economic, geopolitical and geostrategic support in the region and around the globe.
Moreover, inclusion of the African Union as a full member is a strategic act, apparently full of geo-political and geostrategic colorings because of the massive socio-economic development drive of China and the BRI in this continent.
Evidently, the timing of its announcement is significant because the US President Joe Biden has been trying hard to counter China’s BRI global drive for infrastructure development, trans-regional connectivity, building of ports and rails integrated economic corridors through openness, inclusiveness, modernization and qualitative industrialization by pitching Washington as an alternative partner and investor for developing countries at the G20 grouping.
Thus another western pledged “form” of Global South is in the making just diluting the Chinese initiated and sponsored Global South and convincing the regional countries to stay away from China.
In this regard, President Biden’s purposeful labeling of it as real big deal so-called bridging ports across two continents and leading to a more stable, more prosperous and integrated Middle East has great global significance. Moreover, announcing the deal/pact would unlock endless opportunities for clean energy, clean electricity and laying cable to connect communities.
Additionally, while interacting with reporters at the G20 annual summit in New Delhi Jon Finer, the US Deputy National Security Adviser projected the deal as beneficial for low and middle-income countries in the region, and enabling a critical role for the Middle East in global commerce, therefore, spelled out the US redefined and revised Middle East strategic policy after the China’s initiated and successfully supervised peace deal between two regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.
It is predicted that one of the end goals of this deal would be recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia in the future that would entirely change the geopolitical and geostrategic landscape of the Middle East.
Interestingly, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighting the deal as a big connectivity initiative, sowing the seeds for future generations to dream bigger clearly indicates his own longer than life hegemonic designs in the disguised form of the US-India-Middle East-Europe multinational rail and ports corridor.
The wishful thinking of this deal seems to be a replica of the Hollywood movie “Lawrence of Arabia” aiming to link Middle Eastern countries by railway and connect them to India by port, helping the flow of energy and trade from the Gulf to Europe, by cutting shipping times, costs and fuel use.
Transforming widespread sands of the Middle Eastern region into modern means of rails’ transports and connecting with violent waters would be a “Mission Impossible” because of the pre-requisition of the lots of funds, political harmony and human capital in the days to come and on the other hand, BRI has already become an ideal platform connecting more than 152 countries around the globe. In terms of the technology and costs of building railways, no country in the world other than China has a more prominent advantage.
The global power brokers along with India have been showing their inflated concerns and false propaganda against the Chinese mega development project BRI. According to Indian experts India has been frustrated with BRI & CPEC strategic orientations and trans-regional connectivity potential with the Central Asian region and African continent and a futile quest for sustainable connectivity through Iran into the Eurasian landmass, forced India to find a formula to connect to both Arabia and Europe through this new deal.
It is a major geopolitical and geostrategic paradigm shift of the US-India policy in the Indo-Pacific region to the Middle East clearly demonstrating an increase of matching boxes between the two sides. So the setting up of the I2U2 forum by the US, India, UAE and Israel to develop a few joint economic projects was the starting point of this deal. It is feared that Pakistan, Tehran and CPEC would be further marginalized.
