China's Belt and Road Initiative Sees Complementary Potential, Not Friction, with India-Led Trade Corridor

China's Belt and Road Initiative envisions no friction with the proposed counterweight headed by India, viewing the two trade corridors as an opportunity to collaborate toward shared objectives, according to a commissioner of the Beijing-led programme. India has previously opposed the BRI primarily due to the 3,000km China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, asserting that it violates its sovereignty by passing through the disputed Kashmir territory. In response, India has championed the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, or Imec.

However, BRI commissioner Nicholas Ho dismissed any apprehension regarding tension between the two trade initiatives and their respective leaders, instead embracing cooperation. China has consistently expressed its desire for India, its partner in the Brics bloc, to participate in the BRI.

“There's no conflict. If you ask me, working together closely [with them] … does it contradict with the Belt and Road Initiative? It doesn't. It goes hand-in-hand,” Mr Ho stated on Thursday at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong.

Launched in 2013, the BRI has accumulated nearly $1.4 trillion in investments, establishing itself as the largest infrastructure undertaking by a single nation, based on recent data from the Griffith Asia Institute and the Green Finance and Development Centre. The initiative connects Asia, including the Middle East, with Africa, Europe, and the South Pacific through land and maritime routes, boasting 155 members such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Conversely, Imec, supported by the US and the EU, was introduced in 2023 to link South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe while bypassing the Bab Al Mandeb strait and the Suez Canal. It also enjoys backing from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, and Italy.

Mr Ho identified energy, climate change, green transformation, and the digital economy as primary areas of mutual interest. He emphasized that multilateral platforms like the World Trade Organisation, the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, and Brics offer diverse perspectives, but ultimately converge on rules-based multilateralism and mutual respect.