ABSTRACT
Geostrategic discourses on Asia's changing political order reflect the nexus between the scripting of a new geopolitics and the framing of the geo-economics of an interdependent world. Crossing and crafting of traditional borders, internal and external to the state, is juxtaposed with globalizing business networks characterized by digital communication, trade, tourism and financial interests. China's Silk Road Economic Belt is planned to accommodate the progressive westward shift in the country's industrial capacity from coastal to inland provinces. The Silk Road Economic Belt is examined in light of the series of land-based transnational corridors designed to bring about the economic integration of Asia's major subregions. Implementation of the Belt across Eurasia is fraught with problems, particularly where there is not good governance in recipient countries. New Delhi is concerned about China's port investments in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and, possibly the Kra Isthmus in Thailand, leading to the country's stronger naval presence in the Indian Ocean and 'containment' of India.
