ABSTRACT
India's stance on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has evolved over time, from hesitation to disapproval, and from suspicion to opposition. This chapter argues that the existing analyses on India's response to China's BRI have focused too much on constant variables, such as India's threat perception regarding China and its great power aspiration. They have overlooked the larger picture involving significant international and domestic changes since Modi took office in 2014. Externally, the evolving world order from unipolarity to bipolarity has redefined the priority of India's foreign policy, from “multipolar world” to “multipolar Asia.” Therefore, India gradually started to boycott the BRI, which otherwise would strengthen China's position as a peer competitor of the US in a bipolarized world. Internally, the rise of Hindu nationalism has made India rethink regional integration in South Asia, intensifying the unacceptability of BRI, especially in the region, for New Delhi.
