China is a South Asian country, sharing borders with 14 countries including India. Its significance lies in its rise in the region and hegemonic influence over smaller countries through loans and the Belt and Road Initiative. China and India have fought a major war in the 60s and have disputes over the Aksai Chin and LAC, and tensions over the Indo-Pacific.
One would take a more benign view. Western capital will not flow into BRI to butter China’s toast. Either geopolitical or to sustain its firms, some SOEs. China reaching out to advanced economies – Italy being a recent convert – means it is committed to transparency in award of contracts and financing arrangements. To be perfectly honest, do all Japanese investments in foreign infrastructure make economic sense, including our Bullet train. JICA JICA has become a mantra for quite a few dud projects.