“Every great power leaves footprints in its neighbor, but whether those footprints pave the way for peace or plants the seeds of rivalry depends on intent and action.” South Asia today stands at the crossroads of peace and instability, with China’s rise and its growing presence in the region’s political, economic, and security landscapes. The rising power has been actively shaping the regional politics in the name of development for the last two decades. The core question is whether China is truly working as a peacemaker that stabilizes South Asia or a troublemaker that deepens tensions.
Historical Background:
South Asia is a region struggling with violent conflicts, facing numerous wars, nuclear-armed brinkmanship, and human development challenges. China has established closer ties with South Asia since its independence but boost of cooperation happened with the start of the 21st century when China changed the policy to “going out”. That was the turning point that lead to the Belt and Road initiative by President Xi, accelerating the building of links to South Asia in new and ambitious ways.
South Asia is the backbone of Belt and Road Initiative(BRI). China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) and Bangladesh China India Myanmar(BCIM) are two leading economic corridors that pass through South Asia, providing China not only direct access to the Indian Ocean but also opening the huge market covering almost two-fifth of the world population. China finds CPEC as a perfect route as an alternative of the Indo-Pacific Ocean and to avoid the Malacca strait dilemma. In the recent era, China appeared as the top investor of the region, establishing Gwadar port in Pakistan, Hambantota port in Srilanka and Chittagong port in Bangladesh, also made heavy investments in Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives under BRI.
China relies on Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter terrorism in its Xinjiang region and is heavily dependent on the success of CPEC for the development of its western part, which is almost inaccessible from its eastern part due to difficult terrain.
Recent Developments:
Recent efforts made by China in the development of diplomatic and economic relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter the threat of terrorism that is badly affecting the working of CPEC clearly portray the importance of peace in the region for China. The close cooperation with Pakistan and Afghanistan is necessary to counter the threat of terrorism impacting CPEC and the Xinjiang region badly. Moreover, China wants the enhancement of infrastructure in Afghanistan under CPEC, to have access to the natural resources in order to fulfill its needs.
Beijing also played a vital role in the arranging the trilateral talks in June between Islamabad and Dhaka which proved successful and resulted in the signing of six direct trade agreements between the two states for the first time since Bangladesh creation. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi also met with the Indian PM to hail steady progress and rebuild ties. PM Modi also arrived in China for the SCO summit.
Counterargument: Indian and Western claims:
The western media and some famous politicians have portrayed the growing investment by China in the region under BRI is just a debt trap that is threatening the sovereignty of states. They called it predatory while calling it a warning sign of geopolitical influence and asset control. The proponents of Indian policy argued that the increasing influence of China in the South Asian region is a direct threat to Indian security. India declared that China is adopted a “String of Pearls” strategy to sideline not only Indian influence in the region but also encircle it by creating seaports in the region. India also criticized China for establishing closer defense cooperation with Pakistan as creating instability and trouble in the region having hegemonic ambitions.
Conclusion:
China is tirelessly working for the creation of a peace and the development in South Asia. As peaceful South Asia has direct effect on peaceful and speedy rise of China. Even having cold relations with India over border issues still both states do not neglect the importance of trade, still having volume of almost 130 billion dollars. The recent meeting between the Chinese foreign minister and the Indian PM highlighted the readiness for development and enhancement of bilateral relationships. China is actively working for the development of the region, investing in all the states. South Asian States must adopt a balanced approach while maintaining relations with China. They should establish relations based on mutual cooperation while keeping their sovereignty and independent foreign policies. They should sign an agreement based on clear terms and conditions to get public trust and avoid future misunderstandings. China and India both are finding some common points to strengthen their ties. While as already offered by China in past to play a role of mediator between Pakistan-India relations, it should also try to work as mediator in order to resolve the skirmishes and avoid future conflicts. This is not only favorable for the region but also for China.
