Major challenges to Belt and Road initiative (BRI) in 2020-2021
There are three major challenges to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). One, comparing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the present International Economic Order, which entails decline in economic activity in the rich countries as a result of the capitalist crisis, causing conflicts to start brewing up in the developing world. The result is increased purchases of arms and ammunition, causing increase in the gross domestic product of armament producing countries. Changing this world order with the BRI, which simultaneously promotes growth in both the rich and the poor countries will alter the balance of economic power to the benefit of Third World countries, and is being perceived as such by the rich countries, thus posing a serious threat to the BRI. Second, the industrialization threat from Third World countries in the 1960s and beyond was met by academic and intellectual response from western countries. Although the intellectual response was very intense, and resulted in the ushering in of the Counter Revolution, with far reaching consequences on the economies of Third World countries and the global economy. But with the BRI what started off as an academic and intellectual opposition, is fast changing into a belligerent response from western countries. Third, a major challenge to the BRI is that while the strategic interests of countries in Asia, Africa, Middle East, etc., lie with regional countries, their governments appointed by western countries, are pulling them towards the colonial order that officially ended in the aftermath of World War II. This colonial order facilitated western countries to build their artificially high standards of living on the economic surplus which continues to flow out to them from developing countries. This is a real dilemma and a formidable challenge to the BRI for it is pulling these countries in opposite directions - towards the pre 1945 colonial order by their governments, while their own economic and strategic interests are pulling them towards regional countries. What role China and Russia can play in freeing developing countries from the shackles of colonialism and integrating them to the region where they belong?