ABSTRACT
MSR as an integral part of China’s larger BRI initiative is aimed at expanding connectivity infrastructure throughout Southeast Asia, Oceania, the Indian Ocean, and East Africa. The MSR is not only to serve Beijing’s economic interests, but also to give it strategic leverage to emerge as a major maritime power in the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. MSR is potentially affecting the balance of power in the region, as China aggressively pursues its maritime strategy across the Indo-Pacific region. Most of these nations participating in the MSR have a huge trade imbalance with China. Beijing’s investments are frivolous and inadequately planned in most cases and there is a growing realisation about the broader economic, political and security implications of largescale Chinese investment under the MSR. The paper aims to analyse China’s strategic MSR initiative by highlighting some of the key projects undertaken so far under it and also evaluates larger implications of MSR for participating countries.
