The Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia: Benefit for China or Threat to Participants

In this chapter, an attempt was made to address two important aspects of BRI. First, what are the benefits BRI brings for its participants, and second, what the possible risks are in getting associated with the BRI projects. We also outlined the prominent shortcomings or the major criticisms faced by BRI in different parts of the world. Having analysed the benefits, the study finds that almost all the participants have been benefitted by associating with BRI. World-class infrastructural facilities have been created in many countries through BRI finance. Connectivity in many countries has been improved. The participants have been benefitted through their increased trade and investment with China. Chinese trade with BRI partners has crossed US$9.2 trillion while direct investment surpassed US$130 billion in 2021. However, all these have come with a huge cost to many participants. Countries like Sri Lanka had to lose control of its Hambantota port. Djibouti in East African region is also in the verge of losing its control of a container terminal built as part of BRI projects. BRI projects have strenuously been criticised for their opaque bidding process, widespread corruption, and inflated costs. BRI exposes the participants to huge financial risks and drags them to notorious debt trap. China predominantly applies the debt trap method against small and economically weak nations. It is clear from our analysis that China has accrued more benefit from the scheme than the participants.