The BRI 2.0 and the role of Nepal as a south-southeast Asian connector

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a global interconnection project aimed at promoting China's role in the global context, comprising six land economic corridors and one comprehensive maritime economic route, which form a network of interconnectivity and economic development. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the global order faced new economic challenges, and most of the countries were forced to redefine their external policies. These caused China to rethink its BRI initiative, as announced during the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, focusing on connecting land-based corridors to achieve multidimensional connectivity. As such, in recent years, China has been focusing on achieving connections between its two main land corridors, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor (CIPEC). The central objective is to provide overland access to the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea for Southeast Asian countries and offer a viable alternative to Malacca. The initial idea was to link the two corridors via the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC). However, due to India's rejection of the project, China had to reconsider its connection strategy and search for new regional partners. Nepal surged as an appealing country, not only because of its geostrategic location but also because of its underexplored fossil fuel reserves. The aim of this research is to analyse the effects of the Nepalese alternative for CPEC-CIPEC connectivity in order to understand the change in China's foreign policy and the new Chinese interregional strategy.