In no way is China ‘dictating’ OBOR to any country, which, in any case includes 65 countries spread all over Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, all voluntarily part of OBOR, which is probably the single most important diplomatic and developmental initiative in the 21st Century. Only India in the region is out of it, since it sees itself as a ‘rival’ of China.

Actually, by opposing OBOR and echoing India on CPEC, the United States is sowing the seeds of another Cold War, a ‘New Great Game’ in the region, pitching its proxy, India, to ‘counter and contain’ China, destabilising the region further with a debilitating proxy war between India and Pakistan since India is already well embarked on the process of cross-border terrorism against Pakistan.

Following up on the unveiling of President Trump’s flawed South Asian strategy on August 21, 2017, U.S. Defence Secretary, Jim Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, DC, on October 3, 2017 that the U.S. has reservations on the ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative of China.

Jim Mattis, in what is the first such public statement from an American high official on OBOR said that “In a globalised world, there are many belts and many roads, and no one nation should put itself in a position of dictating ‘One Belt, One Road’.” He added another ground for the U.S. opposition, when in an oblique reference to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is the flagship and pilot project of OBOR, that ‘OBOR also goes through disputed territory’.

The statement of Secretary Mattis is surprising and inexplicable as it is contrary to previous American policy and both his reservations are quite baseless. Three aspects are noteworthy.

When China hosted the OBOR Summit in Beijing in May 2017, with 110 countries and international organisations in attendance, the United States sent an official delegation led by Matt Pottinger, Special Assistant to President Trump, and Senior Director in charge of East Asia in the National Security Council. His participation like that of other countries was an endorsement of OBOR and no reservations were expressed on this count.

Second, after the World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty resulted in the decision to build new dams, the American government enlisted U.S. contractors to build the Mangla Dam in Azad Kashmir, and the U.S. then never expressed reservations that it is ‘disputed territory’.

Third, in no way is China ‘dictating’ OBOR to any country, which, in any case includes 65 countries spread all over Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe – all voluntarily part of OBOR – which is probably the single most important diplomatic and developmental initiative in the 21st Century. Only India in the region is out of it, since it sees itself as a ‘rival’ of China.