UPSC Prelims 2016 Question:

‘Belt and Road Initiative’ is sometimes mentioned in the news in the context of the affairs of

Explanation:

• Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a strategy initiated by China. It seeks to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks. The BRI has also been referred to in the past as 'One Belt One Road'.
  
  
• BRI drew inspiration from the concept of the Silk Road established during the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago. The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that connected China to the Mediterranean via Eurasia for centuries.
  
  
• The BRI comprises the SREB (Silk Road Economic Belt) and MSR (Maritime Silk Road). A Silk Road Economic Belt – a trans-continental passage that links China with south east Asia, south Asia, Central Asia, Russia and Europe by land – and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, a sea route connecting China’s coastal regions with south east and south Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East and Eastern Africa, all the way to Europe.
  
  

Therefore, option (4) is the correct answer.

Subject: Polity | International Relations