China’s South Asia outreach has a ‘minus India’ angle amid New Delhi’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ push

The fifth China-South Asia Cooperation Forum (CSACF) is being held in China’s Kunming in Yunnan province, coinciding with the eighth China-South Asia Expo between July 23-28, 2024. The CSACF is part of a ‘minus-India Initiative’ that aims to serve China’s long-term interests and “grand designs”, along with the ‘One Belt and One Road (OBOR)’ initiative. A similar initiative was proposed by Beijing in 2021, focusing on COVID-19 vaccines and poverty alleviation, which included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, but excluded India, the Maldives, and Bhutan.Read More