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The Security Structure in South Asia and Its Impacts on Belt and Road Initiative

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Abstract

The security structure in South Asia is an Indian-centered asymmetric system and regional organization is less developed while non-state actors and non-traditional security threats widely spread in South Asia. Structures of 1947 and 1962 are two foundational factors in the security structure in South Asia. With growing of actors and changing of rules in international relations, specifically the changing of Indian neighborhood policy, the security structure in South Asia is undergoing transformation slowly. China as an outsider plays the role of off shore balancer in South Asia. The security structure in South Asia both has positive and negative influence on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Its positive influences for BRI include: conducive for bilateral cooperation, open regionalism and easily to be implemented in Pakistan, Sir Lanka and Bangladesh. Its negative influences for BRI include: Indian’s negative attitude, hardly to be implemented in Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives, and enormous security risks. To facilitate BRI, China should prevent India to upgrade its Monroe Doctrine, improve the regional security institution in South Asia and cooperate with India on development aid in South Asia.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The State Council of P.R.C: the White Paper of China’s Military Strategy, the Information Office of the State Council, May 26, 2015.

  2. 2.

    According to the Vision and Proposed Actions for the One Belt and One Road published by China, the silk road economic belt focuses on bringing together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe (the Baltic); linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia; and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean. For details, please refer to: The Vision and Proposed Actions Outlined on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road jointly published by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, Xinhua News Agency, March 28, 2015.

  3. 3.

    There are different views about whether Afghanistan is a South Asia country, and some works in China think Afghanistan is a Central Asia country. Such institutions as the World Bank, however, considers Afghanistan a South Asian country; moreover, Afghanistan joined in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 2005 and became the 8th member country of SAARC, therefore, in this paper, Afghanistan is considered a South Asian country.

  4. 4.

    Such terms as regional security structure, regional security order and regional security structure are often used in a mixed way, and these terms include two elements: State of comparison of power: the state is relatively stable. see Yang Xiaoping (2016): “Dual Interaction and Building of a Security Order in South Asia”, International Outlook, issue No.3, pp.126-141. Yang Siling (2016): “Security in South Asia Region: A Perspective of Multiple-level Analysis”, International Security Study, Issue No. 6, pp. 66–89.

  5. 5.

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  6. 6.

    “Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons,” http://www.stimson.org/research-pages/agreement-on-reducing-the-risk-from-accidents-relating-to-nuclear-weapons/ (Access date: December 20, 2016).

  7. 7.

    The Friendship Express explosion happened on February 19, 2007, when an explosion occurred to the Samjhauta Express (also called Friendship Express) traveling between Delhi of India and Lahore of Pakistan, and resulted in that 69 people died and dozens were injured.

  8. 8.

    The Indian embassy in Afghanistan suffered a suicide car bomb attack in July 7, 2008, which resulted in death of 58 people and injuring of 141 people.

  9. 9.

    A terrorist attack occurred in Bombay of India in November 26–27, 2008, which resulted in death of 195 people and injuring of over 300 people.

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  11. 11.

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  12. 12.

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    Partha S. Ghosh (2013) An Enigma that is South Asia: India versus the Region, Asia-Pacific Review, 20:1, 100–120.

  14. 14.

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  15. 15.

    6 hijackers hijacked an Indian plane that was flying from Nepal to New Delhi of India, with 183 passengers and crew members onboard in December 24, 1999.

  16. 16.

    The two terrorists are Abdul Karim Tunda and Yasin Bhatkal respectively. The former is one of the Gurus of the Lashkar-e-Toiba in Pakistan, which was thought to have launched the Bombay terrorist attack in 2008. The latter is one of the founders of another terrorist organization Indian Mujahideen.

  17. 17.

    India’s technological and economic cooperation program was established in 1964, and it is administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, and mainly responsible for implementing Indian government’s bilateral aid projects. The means of project assistance include providing the recipient country with various training, engineering construction and consultation, expert assistance, education of foreign students, equipment assistance, and disaster relief. For detailed introduction, please refer to the official website of India’s Technological and Economic Cooperation Program, https://www.itecgoi.in/index.php.

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  22. 22.

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  23. 23.

    See S. D. Muni, Pangs of Proximity. India and Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Crisis (New Delhi, 1993).

  24. 24.

    The India–Sri Lanka Peace Treaty was signed by the then Indian Prime Minister Raji Gandhi and the then Sri Lankan President Jayewardene on July 29, 1987. The agreement stipulates that Sri Lanka should amend the constitution, and delegate power to provinces and states; and the agreement stipulates that India should send peace keeping troops to Sri Lanka.

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  29. 29.

    The Durand Line is a border demarcation line between Pakistan and India, and it is 2430 km long. In 1893, the then secretary of foreign affairs Durand for the British India visited Afghanistan, and signed a treaty about the Durand Line with the then Afghanistan government, and the surveying for the line was completed in 1896. After Pakistan gained independence, the Durand Line became the current national border line between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but Afghanistan has never recognized some areas that were demarcated by the Durand Line.

  30. 30.

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  31. 31.

    The SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism was signed on November 4, 1987, and became effective on August 22, 1988, and all member states have ratified this agreement.

  32. 32.

    SAARC Secretariat, “SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD),” http://saarc-sec.org/areaofcooperation/detail.php?activity_id=24 (Access date: January 30, 2017).

  33. 33.

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  36. 36.

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  37. 37.

    Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, Annual Report 2016–17, New Delhi, 2017, p. 182.

  38. 38.

    Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, Annual Report 2016–17, New Delhi, 2017, p. 182.

  39. 39.

    Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs, Annual Report 2013–14, New Delhi, 2014, p. 207.

  40. 40.

    “Pakistan Army Sees ‘Internal Threats’ as Greatest Security Risk,” Dawn, January 2, 2013, http://www.dawn.com/news/775781/pakistan-army-sees-internal-threats-as-greatest-security-risk (Access date: January 30, 2017).

  41. 41.

    Jyoti Malhotra, ‘Between Delhi and the Deep Blue Ocean’, The Hindu, December 12, 2012.

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    Li Xiangyang: One Belt and One Road: Positioning, Content and the Relations, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2015, p. 1.

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  44. 44.

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  45. 45.

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  46. 46.

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  47. 47.

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  48. 48.

    The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce: The Vision and Proposed Actions Outlined on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, Xinhua News Agency, March 28, 2015.

  49. 49.

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  53. 53.

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  54. 54.

    The Colombo plan is an economic assistance plan that was initiated by the commonwealth countries in the 1950s, and the plan was designed to promote development of less developed countries among the commonwealth nations through project assistance in such aspects as economy, technology and capital. The secretariat of the Colombo plan was set at Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

  55. 55.

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  56. 56.

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  57. 57.

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  58. 58.

    Building of infrastructures, especially building of highways, railways and pipelines, will result in geopolitical consequences, and will have certain impact on the security environment. For details: please refer to Colin Flint (2017), the Geopolitical Contest and Unavoidable War in Asia: The Historical Lesson from the Perspective of Global System, Indian Ocean Political and Economic Review, 6:1, 2017, p1–p24.

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Liu, P. (2018). The Security Structure in South Asia and Its Impacts on Belt and Road Initiative. In: Rong, W., Zhu, C. (eds) Annual Report on the Development of the Indian Ocean Region (2017). Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2080-4_5

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