– Biplav Dhakal
The zeal of making a difference in the world by doing something for which you will be remembered on for years has existed in human beings throughout their evolution. This very zeal made our ancestors move out of their caves of Stone Age and build sky scrapers in the modern era. This very zeal caused huge technological advancements and the process doesn’t stop. And this very zeal has made China to propose the most ambitious project of modern history, the Belt Road Initiative.
The BRI or the One Belt One Road was officially announced in 2013 by the newly elected president of People’s Republic of China, Xi Jingping. This project is meant to be the revival of the ancient Silk Road that existed thousands of years ago and it connected China with other different parts of the world. BRI will cover 4.4 billion people, 40% of world GDP and 39% of world land area. The BRI includes two components: Maritime Silk Road, which is the sea route and the Economic Belt, which is the land route. Under the project, different infrastructures such as pipelines, railways, highways, industrial parks, power plants, mines and so on will be built.
The Belt Road Initiative is a multi trillion project aimed for regional integration and connectivity which will ultimately help for economic betterment of and increased cooperation among the signatory countries. It will not only connect China to other parts of the world but connect countries and countries to each other fostering the convenience in trade and flourishing economy. The ambition of the project, as announced officially, is to develop connectivity and increase cooperation with Eurasia, Western Asia, countries of Africa, Europe and Central Asia.
It was on the month of May, 2017 when Nepal officially became a part of the Chinese project. Undoubtedly, this project will bring a new wave of opportunities for Nepal to prosper through foreign investment, trade, etc. As Nepal signs for its membership, a new arena will be opened for our country to establish stronger relationships with the countries of Central Asia. Inarguably, this project will help for the economic prosperity of Nepal by a huge degree and prove to be an impetus in achieving the dream of “Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali.”
Before going into this, let us take an example of Pakistan which is one of the economic corridors of China in this project. China has already built a sea port in Gwadar and is making more infrastructures throughout the country. Gwadar is where the economic belt meets the maritime Silk Road. The Chinese led infrastructural development has helped Pakistan receive an increasing number of foreign direct investments along with its highest GDP growth in 8 years.
Now coming back to Nepal, firstly this project will increase the number of foreign direct investments in the country. According to recent statistics provided by Ministry of Finance, 3-4% of the GDP of Nepal constitutes of foreign direct investment. This rate is estimated to increase with the commencement of BRI projects in our country. In the present context, to reach out to the market of other countries, Nepal uses the sea after passing through India. But after webs of roads from different parts of the world meets with the Nepalese soil under this project, Nepal’s market reach with other Silk Road countries will become more accessible and easier. What can’t be missed out is the role that this project will play in enhancing tourism industry of our country. Lot of pilgrims and other tourists will find a convenient way to head to the unique topography and ancient religious shrines that our country holds. So inarguably there is a huge opportunity ahead of Nepal to lift its economic potentials through Chinese assistance. It is also necessary for Nepal to strengthen relationships with tomorrow’s probable world power, China, for its own benefits and this is just another opportunity this project provides.
In this way, not in one or two but Nepal will be benefitted in numerous ways through the BRI project. But looking at the bigger global scenario we can find the Chinese project facing a lot of criticism especially from the Western part of the world. The project has allegedly been mentioned as a “military strategy”. There are two things that need to be perceived in this regard. One, the tag is propaganda of the America based scholars and intelligence as a part of their China Containment Strategy where they fear the rise of China as a super power will harm the prevailing sole global dominance that America has. They fear losing the top position in the global order as China, given the continuity of its existing pace, is assured to rise as the super power in the coming days. China, which has risen being aloof from international affairs with a sole focus on enhancing its economy, has climbed up without causing any violence to other countries, unlike the Western countries whose history is full of colonization cum violence and bloodshed. Moreover it was only in the 17th century that the countries of the Western countries soared to recognize the sovereignty of other countries through the Treaty of Westphalia whereas the countries of the eastern part including China can be found existing in mutual cooperation respecting each other’s sovereignty regardless of the economic or population figure throughout the history. And now China, with the help of BRI aims to further strengthen this cooperation so the allegation that has been put on the project is undoubtedly a fallacious one.
Second thing that needs to be perceived is that Nepal has no time laundering in this ongoing debate of the “goodness or evilness” of the project. Our top priority is economic enhancement that needs to be achieved anyhow and we have no time lagging behind in this regard. Diplomacy comes into play here and steps need to be taken such as to assure that we get the required benefit from the project at the same time being aware about any sort of propaganda dubbed as “treaties” or “enhancement strategy” that could be set forth by the West aiming to obstruct or defame the entry of the project in our country. The Indo Pacific Strategy is worth being revised in this regard.
Since the announcement of the project Nepal has shown keen interest in being part of it and provided with the wave of opportunities in trade, investment and tourism this project provides, the government has undoubtedly done an appreciable work in making our country a signatory of it. However, the road isn’t as simple as it seems. Under the scheme of this project China provides loan to countries at low interest to build infrastructures as a part of the economic corridor. Recent events show countries including Sri Lanka not being able to pay back the loan which was provided by China to build a sea port of Hambantota. So China has decided to use the sea port in lease for 100 years. The concerned stakeholders must be aware about the possibility of existence of a similar condition in our country, which already has a weak economy. For this, only those projects which align with our national priority should be accepted. Only the coming days will show our country’s condition enhance with the help of this project.
