Analysis of Economy and Trade among China, India, and Russia under the Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative advocated by China is expecting to assist in the infrastructure and financing of participating countries and promote free trade through cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road. China hopes to lead the regional economic integration process through investment-driven trade. Out of geopolitical considerations, Russia and India initially held a relatively negative or cautious attitude towards the Belt and Road Initiative. Therefore, Russia proposed the concept of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in 2011 in order to unite the other independent ASEAN countries based on the customs alliance consisting of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, and thus create a supranational consortium, which in turn have the ability to compete and cooperate with the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. In 2014, India launched the Indian version of the Belt and Road Initiative, named Project Mausam, expecting to promote the integration of economic and trade exchanges around the Indian Ocean with India as the center. However, after recent strikes by the trade war, China actively seeks assistance from India and Russia in order to break through the US trade blockade. During the G20 summit held in Japan in June 2019, China, India, and Russia held a three-party talk. After the talk, the three countries issued a joint statement claiming that “they shall undertake more global responsibilities to protect the fundamental and long-term interests of the three countries themselves and the world”, which seems to have opened up opportunities for future cooperation among the three countries. Therefore, this paper explores the competitive and cooperative relationship among China, India, and Russia under the Belt and Road Initiative.