India and Pakistan's responses to the Belt and Road initiative and the future of the “Asian century”

This review article focuses primarily on decoding the nuanced factors influencing India and Pakistan's varied approaches to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The analysis specifically investigates the importance of the India-China relationship for the trajectory of the Asian century. The analysis shows that the historic relationship patterns between China, India, and Pakistan, the economic conditions, and the evolving global and regional geopolitical landscape are influential factors shaping India's and Pakistan's responses to the BRI. These factors have significant implications for bilateral relations as well. The article explores the feasibility of normalized cooperation between China and India, considering China's ties with Pakistan, India's approach to the BRI, and the broader dynamics of great power politics in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Discussions based on empirical evidence revealed that despite the deep-seated disputes and differences between China and India, complex interdependence instruments exist between them, especially in the economic domain. The analysis argues that although a trilateral cooperation mechanism is unrealistic in the current context, the normalization of relations between India-China and India-Pakistan could be attainable through competitive coexistence with minimal conflicts. The regularization of relations between China, India, and Pakistan could also help promote the vision of the Asian Century. The two key contributions of the secondary analysis are: first, identifying certain non-strategic, non-confrontational areas where India-China and India-Pakistan could collaborate to enhance relations beyond BRI; second, proposing a unified collaborative framework that considers all relevant aspects of the analysis to establish compatible relations, particularly between China and India within a framework of competitive coexistence.