India as Jealous Foe and the BRI

Abstract

Convinced that India will not join BRI directly or Indirectly Chinese critics explore the reasons behind India’s rejections. They come up with several reasons. One is India’s deep-rooted threat perceptions towards China. Chinese accuse that India inherited colonial thinking from British Indian Empire and attribute it to India’s perceptions of Indian Ocean and South Asian region as its backyard resulting in Indian view of Chinese “intrusions” into its backyard. However the most important reason for India’s rejection of BRI is attributed to India’s great power mentality, and Nehru’s words which Chinese perceive as attesting to Nehru’s great power aspirations and expansionism was quoted to prove the contemporary India’s great power aspirations. Chinese scholars also argue that U.S media also greatly influenced Indian perceptions towards BRI.