CPEC and India: A Triangle for Greater Regional Economic Integration

Abstract

With the global economic shift of power towards Asia, the establishment of multilateral arrangements in South Asia is becoming a reality through China led regional connectivity mega projects including the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). These regional integration initiatives appear to be milestones of China’s strategic and economic policy goals. The move aims at connecting South Asia with Central Asia, Middle East and even Africa. If triangle between China-Pakistan-India is established, this initiative could even transform CPEC into a more dynamic regional economic integration by leaving behind European Union model. CPEC, being a flagship mega project of the OBOR, is central to South Asian regional connectivity outlook by facilitating and connecting neighborhood to the nearby regions with an aim to create inter-connected and inter-dependent regional economic hub. The paper attempts to discuss that regional economic integration should be pursued independent of political issues for greater regional connectivity and stability. The paper also intends to discuss that Asia has witnessed the global shift of power in which China and India are the main players as both states are already engaged on various platforms like BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) and IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum) which can play a catalyst role to bring China and India closer to the reality that regional connectivity can serve both the states’ interest better than moving with a divergent regional approach which is in no one interest.