PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · India & the Global Centres of Power — Part 2
Describe briefly China’s ‘One Belt One Road (OBOR)’ Initiative and analyze India’s major concerns.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 Xi 2013 — belt + maritime road, AIIB behind — Raisina invitation Jan 2017 declined — objection is to terms, not to roads R2 connectivity as statecraft > India the lone large refuser > question is on what political terms infrastructure arrives
Body flow
description (two limbs, geography, finance) > sovereignty as the first-order concern (CPEC through PoK, title problem) > 2025 Afghan extension > “unacceptable” reply > reciprocity charge (Arunachal vs PoK) — second-order strategic concern (Gwadar / Hambantota / Kyaukpyu, neighbourhood lending) > record 2025 engagement kills the “BRI is fading” reading
Counter-view
debt trap is the weakest Indian leg > Jones and Hameiri on Hambantota (Colombo’s project, small Chinese share, no swap,
Conclusion routes
lease money to Western creditors) – the term itself was coined in Delhi R1 India’s case rests on territory and reciprocity, not on dorsi predation R2 sole SCO holdout nine years on — the position holds only if Delhi delivers its own connectivity (Raja Mohan)
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
