Envisioned as a sustainable alternative to China’s BRI, US-led Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative seeks to narrow down infrastructure deficit in the developing world. However, with their several distinct areas of focus, BRI & B3W can possibly share both complementary & competitive equations.
The turn of the twenty-first century brought with it the miraculous economic rise of China in Asia and beyond; American strategy towards the region, denoted by the ‘pivot to Asia’ and acceptance of a ‘Pacific Century’ for the US,1 became increasingly China-centric. Building partnerships, forging security and commercial pacts with Asian countries and enhancing maritime presence across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) eventually became the fulcrum of America’s Asia strategy, with mainstream strategic perception in the United States on China becoming increasingly negative.
The drawbacks of over-reliance on China as a single manufacturing source has led to countries adopting “China Plus One” strategy to diversify supply networks. Whether Supply Chain Resilience Initiative by India-Japan-Australia can assist in partial decoupling from China is yet to be seen.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda's article ‘Japan's Strategic Choices in Afghanistan’ has been published in ‘Asia's Next Page’, a column in Japan Forward on July 26, 2021.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda's article ‘India's Quad Calculus and China’ has been published in Asan Forum at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, South Korea, on July 19 2021.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda's piece ‘Japan's new defense white paper sharpens aim at China’ has been published in Asia Times.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda's Commentary ‘The Structural Limits of the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative’ has been published at the Pacific Forum.
The commentary essentially argues that despite its merits, the SCRI is structurally limited right now. Yet with economic transformation and post-pandemic recovery shaping regional power distribution, the expectations for the SCRI are immense. To meet expectations, the Australia-Japan-India trilateral must acknowledge the challenges and shape the initiative adequately to overcome them.
Xi’s rousing words at CCP’s centenary celebrations have reaffirmed China’s intentions to make every effort in actualising its domestic goals and global ambitions—without holding much regard for the rules-based order.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda's article ‘What China's Communist Party Centenary Means for India;’ has been published in The National Interest.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Dr. Jagannath Panda's article ‘Ties that bind: GeoPolitics, not socialism, underpin North Korea-China alliance’ has been published in NK News.
The article covers the Sino-DPRK strategic cooperation against the democratic world as they prepare to reaffirm the 1961 treaty soon on 11th July 2021 again.
