ABSTRACT
Seamless connectivity appears to be the new global catchphrase. Infrastructural projects that facilitate connectivity and thereby encourage the creation of new logistical expanses, which comprise frontier regions and connect remote areas, have come to exemplify international politics. With the re-emergence of Asia as the global economic hub, the world is being re-imagined in cartographic terms, and at the centre of this exercise is China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The focus of the chapter is on mapping and analysing the scope, vision and impact of the Belt and Road Initiative; appraising the myriad responses and India’s alternative vision in particular to what has been termed as China’s ‘New Silk Roads’. As multiple attempts to break the ‘bottlenecks in Asian connectivity’ make headway in the form of major infrastructural investments, unusual equations between the major players unfold, promising an era of regional reconfigurations. The chapter attempts to briefly comprehend the various dimensions and political implications of the differing cartographies.
