The launch of the new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) connecting India with the Gulf and Europe has sparked a debate about whether it could counter the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – a highly ambitious infrastructure project launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping to connect China with major Eurasian economies through infra, trade, and investment. The new corridor is billed as an alternative to BRI, which Xi projects as Beijing’s move to revive China’s ancient trade route network referred to as the Silk Road.
The IMEEC, ever since its launch on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, has been seen as a new route but William Dalrymple, the eminent historian and author, is of the view that that this, in fact, was the major route used for East and West trade through the Red Sea for thousands of years. The historian also says that the Silk Road is a very modern idea that was coined in the 1930s.
Source: MSN
