India And Japan Join Forces To Counter China And Build Their Own New Silk Road, by Wade Shepard.

As Xi Jinping seeks to exponentially expand China’s economic and political footprint upon the Eurasian and African regions via his signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a knee-jerk reaction can be observed from other Asian powers who are initiating and intensifying international development initiatives of their own. India and Japan are at the forefront of this movement, devising a mutual vision which could be labeled the ‘other’ New Silk Road.

Just days after Xi Jinping’s epic Belt and Road Forum in May, India’s Prime Minister Modi unveiled a vision to counter the international ambitions of China at a meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Gujarat. Conceived during a meeting between Modi and Japan’s Prime Minister Abe in November 2016 and cobbled together by a crew of think tanks comes something dubbed the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC). …

Africa is without a doubt the next frontier of development, with the economies of a host of countries currently growing at rates between seven and ten percent per year. China has been incredibly active in this region, with trade growing at roughly 20% per year since 2000; amounting to $188 billion in 2015. One of the main goals of the AAGC is to balance out the influence — and holdings — of China in this rapidly emerging part of the world. In other words, so India and Japan can better claim their respective slices of the pie.

Australia should be part of this.

hat-tip Stephen Neil