Emerging Contours of Maritime Security Architecture under the Belt and Road Initiative

The revival of the centuries-old ‘Silk Road at Sea’ into a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is an integral part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Chinese White Paper on its vision for enhancing maritime cooperation broadly confirms this perception, since it considers maritime security assurance as the lynchpin of MSR initiatives. As its trade and overseas economic interests have been constantly growing, Beijing’s strategic concern about protection of these interests has magnified. This article argues that through the assurance of maritime security under a cooperative framework as an ‘international public good’, China, via the expansion of its maritime influence in the IOR, aims to play a proactive role in shaping the maritime strategic environment.