From Connectivity to Dependency: A Comparative Analysis of China's BRI through CPEC in Pakistan and Hambantota in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a Chinese-launched project in 2013 that is a revolution in connecting, trading, and influencing Eurasia and the world at large. This paper attempts a comparative examination of BRI implications on two South Asian key developing economies, Pakistan as a participant, via project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Sri Lanka via the Hambantota Port projects. Based on qualitative case studies and secondary data between the period of 2020 and 2026, the study will discuss how the BRI facilitates economic integration and the promotion of infrastructure building and in the process redefines the regional power relations. The main findings are to focus on the better energy security, the creation of employment opportunities, and the connection of the regions to each other, contrasted with the threat of the dependency on debt, the issues of sovereignty, and the growth of the Sino-Indian competition. CPEC forms better strategic relationships with China but worsens the relationship with India regarding the contested territories in Pakistan. The debt relief measures in Sri Lanka have increased perceptions of the so-called debt-trap diplomacy, and it is changed in Indian Ocean geopolitics. This paper highlights the multipurpose nature of the BRI as an economic facilitator and instrument of the revisionist objectives of China hence threatening the hegemony of the United States and India in South Asia. Suggestions on sustainable management of debts and multilateral control as solutions to reduce the risks are included, as a part of the extensive debates on world infrastructure projects and their geopolitical impacts.