South Asian States have been struggling for several decades to coordinate and unite the region. In 1985, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was established by the heads of the regional states. The regional body aimed to enhance cooperation among the South Asian States, promote welfare, and enrich the quality of life of the South Asian people. However, SAARC has been considered one of the failed regional organizations as since 2014, the regional states failed to organize the summit. One of the reasons behind the failure of SAARC was the India-Pakistan belligerent relationship; both states hadn’t cooperated to strengthen the regional organization. Therefore, South Asia is considered one of the least integrated regions in the globe. Across the world, small regional organizations are serving to enhance unity and cooperation among the people such as the African Union, ASEAN, EU, and SCO.
Since the 2008 financial crisis, China has emerged as a strong economic state to help out other states during the crisis. In the meantime, China attempts to foster bilateral relationships with South Asian states. The PRC primarily leverages its economic influence to cooperate with the South Asian States by introducing the Belt and Road initiative. Furthermore, the Chinese government also tried to strengthen diplomatic and defense relations with these states by providing military support and a modern technological warfare system. When Xi Jinping took office in 2012, the premier announced the large mega-economic project named the Belt and Road Initiative. The project aimed to link Europe with Asia through different routes including maritime routes to overcome the Malacca dilemma. In the meantime, the China-US tension ushered, and the great powers politics returns into the Indo-Pacific region.
Since independence, China has sustained a strong bilateral relationship with Pakistan and Myanmar. When China announced the mega economic project, both states welcomed the initiative to connect the two largest continents of Asia and Europe. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was officially announced in 2015. The aim of the project was to connect China’s unexplored region Xinjiang (western China) to the Pakistani Port of Gwadar. Through this connectivity, China will get access to the Indian Ocean and get a shorter route to Middle Eastern states. The CPEC project established several economic mega projects including Rashakai Economic and several other zones to support the economy of Pakistan. It has also established several electricity projects across the country. Moreover, China has also invested $2.75 billion in the Nepal Trans-Himalaya corridor. Additionally, China is working on building three villages in Bhutan by construction and also establishing military sites for them. Additionally, China also leased a port from Sri Lanka in 2017 for 99 99-year lease by providing economic support. While with the Maldives, the PRC leased an Island for 50 years in 2016 by providing support to their economy.
The PRC is trying to develop a strong bilateral relationship with Afghanistan. Beijing officially recognized the Taliban envoy to Beijing. Since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021, the Chinese government tried to develop good relations with the Taliban to dwindle the extremism in the Xinjiang region. However, China’s strategic endeavor is to expand its influence across South Asia through soft power and cultural diplomacy. China has sustained its presence in the region for a long time without military tactics but to explore the region through economic initiatives. China aims to project power in the region through long-term commitments and cultural inclusivity.
The PRC took several initiatives to proliferate its power and influence across the South Asian region. Firstly, Beijing engaged with its partners through cultural diplomacy by establishing Confucius Institute across the region. These institutions encourage the local people to learn the Chinese language and accelerate cultural expansion. There are around 17 Confucius institutes across the South Asian region. Secondly, Chinese higher education is playing a vital role in delivering soft power across the South Asian region by propagating Chinese culture, language, and civilization. Moreover, the Chinese government also invites students through fully funded scholarships by portraying a soft image to the world. Thirdly, the Chinese have learned in the past that the economy is the only tool to influence another state. Therefore, China has launched its mega economic project BRI, and South Asia is the main gateway to swell the Chinese influence and connect it to the world. The economic initiatives taken by Beijing in South Asia including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China-Myanmar economic corridor, and China-India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar economic corridor, to accelerate the Chinese-led initiative and portray a soft power image of China to the World in the South Asian region. Meanwhile, dissension has been seen in China’s strategy and the former Western power by approaching the world. China is not adopting the strategy that was adopted by America and the past Western powers, influencing the states by destroying them and their resources without giving any opportunities to them, but rather by providing numerous opportunities and leverage to other states in South Asia through investments, creating jobs opportunities and through infrastructure and development projects.
The Chinese expansion and approach to other states through soft power initiatives describe its attempt to familiarize the world from China’s values, its historical traditions and motivation, identity formation, and to dismantle the negative rhetoric around its rise. In a nutshell, the Chinese engagement with the South Asian States is mostly on a bilateral level. Beijing is providing aid assistance to the states mostly via the Belt and Road Initiative. While it’s noteworthy that China’s engagement in South Asia is unique and its association level of success and engagement are different from country to country. Therefore, the success of China’s engagement in South Asia since adopting its soft power policy has dismantled the traditional dominant role of India in the region. Meanwhile, India emerged as a strong contender to compete with China in the region. Hence, the Chinese soft power has significantly lowered the Indian traditional dominance in the South Asian region by portraying its soft image through foreign assistance, investment, infrastructure and development projects, and economic engagement.
In 1993, Edward Luttwak coined a term in his book “Geo-economic”. It helps us to understand and analyze the geo economic and how its shape the geopolitical interests of the state. According to the term, states are using economic tools to advance its geopolitical position in the region. Therefore, China expands its regional outreach in the South Asia by using economic tools to achieve its geopolitical objectives such as access to the Indian Ocean to overcome the Malacca dilemma, to dwindle the US and Indian dominance from the region, and enlarge its influence beyond from its coastal areas. Moreover, China has a propaganda department which oversees the overall propaganda network domestically and abroad. The aim of the department is to extend the Chinese culture via media and portraying their soft image to the world. Meanwhile, Buddhism is also playing a vital role to expand the Chinese culture in the South Asia and one of the main pillars of China’s public diplomacy. In nutshell, China is getting leverage across the South Asian region via using soft power policy by investing, providing foreign assistance, using culture to exchange and share norms and values, and by using higher education system.
