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The Land–Sea Conundrum
The world is reorienting away from its fixation with exclusive reliance on sea lanes of communication, as the fulcrum of international trade and politics, and its embrace of modern connectivity imperatives. The emerging Eurasian land bridges are now the biggest disrupter of the existing maritime order and impacting the global power shift. The maritime-continental disequilibrium is once again determining the contours of conflicts and contestations in global politics. The new transcontinental linkages and continental value chains are challenging the monopoly of international trade management by Western maritime powers.
The geographic reconfiguration of international supply chains is underway, with the world’s longest economic corridor, linking the Asia–Pacific economic pole at the eastern end of Eurasia and the European pole at its western end. The emerging Eurasian land bridges are now the biggest disrupters of the existing maritime order and impacting the global power shift.
China’s attempt to revolutionise Eurasia’s strategic geography is not unprecedented. There are a lot of similarities between the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and German-led Berlin–Baghdad Railway (BBR). The BBR infringed on Pax Britannica and China’s attempt to connect Eurasia is impacting Pax Americana.
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