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Chinese president Xi Jinping's "belt and road" initiative to link China with with Europe through Central and Western Asia and to connect with Southeast Asian countries will be met with staunch challenges from India's own competing proposal, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
Xi's ambitious strategic plan, announced last year, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt, a land-based belt from China via Central Asia and Russia to Europe, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a maritime route through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa.
Pang Zhongying, an international relations professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, says while Xi has personally invited Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to join the belt and road initiative, New Delhi has never expressed a clear indication of support.
Instead, India will soon be launching its own Project Mausam, a transnational initiative meant to revive its ancient maritime routes and cultural linkages with countries in the region.
Read the full story at Want China Times