The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a new plan of Biden and its allies, which was announced in the G20 leaders’ summit. The project was launched to stop the Chinese rise in the region. If the project is completed, it will ultimately harm China’s Belt and Road Initiatives. The BRI is a massive project of China which have been interlinked with at least three continents of the world.
The IMEC is a transitional rail and shipping route spread across the two continents, which is a product of the US and India and will play the role of mediator. The US expect that launching this project will energize economic development through connectivity and economic integration between Asia, Europe and the Arabian Gulf.
Mr. Biden, in his visit to Vietnam, told the reporter that we do not need to contain China and want to see her succeed, but this diplomatic narrative always heartened China. In his speech, Modi said that IMEC is not necessarily replacing China’s BRI and we have good terms with China. But both countries are playing a dual game with China.
The new trade route is a good omen for the USA and Saudi Arabia because they want to expand their trade with the European Union, Italy, Germany and France. This corridor has two separate routes: the East corridor, which links India to the Gulf Arab states and the Northern route, which connects Europe to the Gulf States.
Experts in global affairs believe that IMEC is a game changer for India, like BRI is for China.
Mohammad Baharoon, the Director General of Dubai Public Policy Research center, in his Interview with CNN, articulated that It is not a project of competition with China’s BRI but an attempt to facilitate the movement of goods (Including energy), data, money and people to people connection. The recent summit of Group 20 in India has brought many ideas for the participants to empower the Gulf states and Europe. Many scholars believe that Biden’s main agenda under this initiative is to defeat China in Europe and Gulf conditions.
Mr Modi, during his speech at the G-20 summit, said that this milestone will make the trade between India and Europe 40% faster with a rail link. The White House, in a statement, addressed that our approach through this project aims to unlock new investments from partners in order to create more jobs and strengthen the private sector.
The plan took place at the G7 leaders meeting in May, which was held in Japan. In the meeting, it was decided that the world’s seven wealthiest countries pledged to collectively mobilize $600 billion (E 558 billion) by 2027 to counter the BRI. Many scholars opined that BRI is more extensive in scale than IMEC, and countering China is not an easy feat. China’s mega project of BRI was signed in 2013 with more than 150 countries and over 30 thousand international organizations to be completed by 2049. The purpose of BRI was to mobilize nearly $1 trillion and create over 3,000 projects. However, the IMEC has not announced the cost and completion plan. The US wants to count its Middle East allies through its IMEC project to counter China, however, the gulf state is trying to find a balance between traditional partners like the US and China.
Experts in global affairs believe that IMEC is a game changer for India, like BRI for China. They also have their views that the goal of the US and Europe to compete with China in global infrastructure is to boost the economy of the US and curtail Beijing in the Middle East. Alka Acharya, honorary director of the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi, told the DW channel that countering China’s BRI is a difficult challenge for India. She added that India looks at these projects to push its infrastructure projects. Some experts in international politics believe that IMEC is a good idea economically and strategically, which will facilitate speedy transportation of goods between India, the Gulf States and Europe, bypassing troubled territories of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This project is based on the hypocritical behavior of India and the US to counter China.
According to the article in China’s Daily IMEC, there is no industrial manufacturing bloc that cannot compete with BRI, and there needs to be a clear policy for human capital, labour policy, government system and efficiency. The US cannot afford the long-term project as China can afford its BRI. Both significant players are trying to count each other. Let’s see what will happen in future.
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad. He can be reached at [email protected]