He said this responding to a question on the role of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plays in advancing China’s economic and soft power interests in South Asia during an interview with E-International Relations magazine. It plays to China’s strengths, which are economic, where it is not really matched by any other power in the subcontinent. This is still a work in progress and the Chinese leadership has often spoken of the need for China to gain soft power. He said that the Chinese are very conscious of their own political and strategic tradition. Menon also said that if the political relationship between China and India remains adversarial, cutting their economic dependencies on China would become a strategic necessity.

Source: The Nation November 22, 2021 01:25 UTC