The Belt and Road Initiative in the Indian Ocean

The Belt and Road Initiative, a gigantic infrastructure project adopted by China in 2013, raises many criticisms about the Chinese government's motives. Research has shown that the economic cooperation project could allow China to develop naval military facilities in the Indian Ocean and that poor BRI partner countries could risk falling into a debt trap. This study aims to contribute to the discussion on China's motivations based on the implementation of BRI projects in Pakistan. The objective is to determine whether the BRI partnership with Pakistan is a win-win-economic cooperation or whether China is trying to assert its dominance in the region. This research builds on International Relations theories to investigate which theory best explains China's motives behind the BRI projects in Pakistan. For each theoretical proposition of offensive realism, defensive realism or complex interdependence, indicators have been defined to compare the propositions with the collected data. The data analysis showed that a mix of complex interdependence theory and defensive realism theory provides the most relevant explanation. The results found that by promoting win-win cooperation, China is pursuing soft-power economic diplomacy, which can be seen as a means of supplanting US soft power in Pakistan. The BRI projects in Pakistan have fostered a close relationship of economic interdependence between Beijing and Islamabad, but that China benefits more from the BRI projects. On this basis, it is recommended that China should be more transparent about the commercial viability of projects, the conditions of cooperation and the results achieved. Further research is needed to examine the share of Chinese workers in the projects, and the social and commercial relevance of the projects.