India giving China the run for its money in South Asia

Thirteen months is too small a period to decipher a government’s foreign policy but one discernible trend that stands out in the Modi government’s statecraft in past 13 months is that the Modi-led India is giving China the run for its money in South Asia, literally.

What is more creditable is that an indirect and subtle corroboration of this has come from an impartial body like United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The UNCTAD report has put its finger on increasing Chinese FDI in South Asia, particularly Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The report can be accessed here.

But before we discuss the UNCTAD report here is a primer on Sino-Indian rivalry in South Asia, particularly in terms of trade and investments .

China is not an Indian Ocean power and yet for over a decade it has systematically launched a pro-active engagement with all South Asian countries with a two-fold strategic agenda: (i) to nudge out India in its own backyard and (ii) to emerge as an important stakeholder in Indian Ocean.

While China’s forays into South Asia have encompassed all seven South Asian neighbours of India, it has put a special focus on four of these nations – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, in that order.

For past one decade, China has succeeded in eclipsing Indian influence in South Asia – be it Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Nepal.

But the Modi government is determinedly in pursuit of policies which seek to reverse this trend. India is doing it by way of increasing trade,  investments and connectivity in the region. The concept of BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal), a sub-regional route within SAARC aimed at bypassing Pakistan, China’s most important strategic leverage in the region.

Read more at the source – IndiaPost.com