Maritime trade in the Indian Ocean: value-focused thinking for BRI and CPEC by employing A’WOT hybrid technique

Abstract

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have so far developed the narrative of bringing prosperity and peace; particularly in the welfare context of Afro-Asian population in Indian Ocean littoral states and enhanced cooperation among countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. The grey areas needs to be analysed with Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) for the overall discourse of maritime. Thus, this study examined the emerging role of BRI viz-a-viz trade opportunities and challenges for Pakistan and China by employing A’WOT method. Results reveal that the successful BRI and CPEC endeavours will open up a door for future investment, prosperity and sustainable development in Indian Ocean Region (IOR). However, Pakistan has higher ratio of threats compare to China and relative to the opportunities considering the weaknesses due to internal and external factors. Maritime trade under BRI has success potential due to geo-strategic location of Pakistan and weaknesses can be avoided in a complete decision support manner with appropriate policy and strategic arrangements.