THE BRI & THE CPEC: AN ECONOMIC & STRATEGIC RECONFIGURATION

Abstract

The transition from coal to oil unleashed modern capitalism anchored in supply-chain(s). Consequently, business organizations were born along with the Management and Chemical Sciences, to commence with. The academic disciplines proliferated to match the rise of the Hydro Carbon Man and oil based global society. Oil went metaphysical. The post-World War II (WWII) world was an American configured supply-chain with Europe and East Asia as the Eurasian centres of gravity. It was a world-order radiating influence across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. America dominated the chain economically and strategically, until, the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) challenged to reconfigure the configuration. The BRI is an on- going mapping of the Chinese world-order and the concomitant supply-chain. The six-corridors including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the three sea-routes are structural frameworks across Eurasia, Mediterranean Sea, Africa and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It involves the higher, middle and lower ends of the entire supply-chain. China is creating a new map of the world, a new world-order as China perceives it. There is an Orbit. Chinese perception is trans-cultural. It is truly global. The Made in China 2025 concept and the brands symbolize. The strategic-management of a management-chain manifests an intended supply-chain. The idea is to organize things in a certain way. The objective is to create a new world economy with China as its pulsating heart. Plus, China is already vital to the global manufacturing value chain. The perception of CPEC is melodious of all melodies. Also, Eurasia is central to the BRI, as it was to the post WWII America. The concepts of Indo-Pacific and Asiatic Mediterranean have also emerged as a supply chain anchored in the Quadrilateral Security Initiative (Quad). The interests are clashing. The unleashing of tariffs and counter- tariffs indicate, not to mention the arms sales and strategic undertakings. Washington and Beijing have embarked upon different paths. Both the initiatives are geo-political. The context is global politics. Eurasia is the strategic fulcrum. Besides, Russia perceives itself as the Eurasian centre of gravity. The inner core of Eurasia is a challenge. Europe also is a player. Likewise, the Indian perceptual arc stretches from Suez Canal to Malacca Strait. And the Japanese with their history and infrastructure projects are not far behind. The reality is power and influence. The absence of pre-determinism is curious. Uncertainty is an inductive fact. The strategic environment is competitive. A gap exists on the theme in knowledge. This macro-level paper with empiric-analytic reason as a method will add to the perspective to help make decisions