Major developments, including the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s acceleration of its digital infrastructure push, have heightened the stakes of the global infrastructure challenge for U.S. interests and the necessity of fashioning not merely a response, but its own strategy.
The need for greater digital connectivity will be at the forefront of many nations’ agendas following the Covid-19 pandemic. In the U.S., deliberations are underway about a $2 trillion infrastructure program that, if well-designed, could provide a once-in-a-century opportunity for the U.S. to reaffirm its global leadership in the digital infrastructure of the future.
Beijing’s willingness to start new international institutions underscores its global ambitions and adds weight to its rhetoric about creating an alternative order, but it would be a mistake to exaggerate their current scale and effectiveness.
China’s growing military ambition in South Asia is matched in financial terms by its Belt and Road Initiative, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. What remains unclear is how the U.S. should navigate the new dynamic. This report addresses the question of how the India-Pakistan rivalry will play into the emerging great power competition.
During the second annual CSIS Ocean Security Forum on January 7, 2020, a panel of experts discussed the implications of China’s port investments along its Maritime Silk Road on regional ocean sustainability, sovereignty, and security. Watch the full discussion below.