Context:

In a letter, the United States asked India to join the Blue Dot Network.

The Blue Dot network

• It is a U.S.-led collaboration with Australia and Japan that supports private-sector-led infrastructure financing opportunities in response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The Blue Dot network was jointly launched in November 2019 on the sidelines of the 35th ASEAN Summit in Thailand by the-
  • United States (International Development Finance Corporation (DFC))
  • Japan (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation)
  • Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
• It is meant to be a multi-stakeholder initiative that aims to bring governments, the private sector, and civil society together to promote “high quality, trusted standards for global infrastructure development”.
• Under it, infrastructure projects within the Indian Ocean Region will be certified in keeping with globally recognized standards that uphold principles of transparency and financial viability.

Does it counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative?

• The Blue Dot network is part of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which is aimed at countering Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious BRI.
• From the US’s point of view, the Indo-Pacific region is the most economically dynamic and populous part of the world.
• Further, the US sees China’s infrastructure investments and trade strategies as reinforcing its geopolitical aspirations, including efforts to build and militarise outposts in the South China Sea, which as per the US, restricts the free movement of trade and undermines regional stability.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative

• The project is often described as a 21st-century silk road, made up of a “belt” of overland corridors and a maritime “road” of shipping lanes.
• The Belt and Road Initiative combines two initiatives
• The (land-based) Silk Road Economic Belt, comprising six development corridors, namely:
  • New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor (NELBEC)
  • China – Mongolia – Russia Economic Corridor (CMREC)
  • China-Central Asia – West Asia Economic Corridor (CCWAEC)
  • China – Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor (CICPEC
  • Bangladesh – China – India – Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIMEC)
• China – Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
  • The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road ” The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road connects China to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, India, the Arabian peninsula, Somalia, Egypt, and Europe, encompassing the South China Sea, Strait of Malacca, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea.