, Columnist
China Should Beware What It Wishes For
Throughout history, infrastructure has been followed by boots on the ground.
Selling the new Silk Road.
Photographer: Zhang Peng/LightRocket/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
To Indian eyes, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s big Belt and Road Forum -- which attracted 29 heads of government and representatives of 130 countries -- looked awfully familiar. It looked, in fact, like an imperial durbar -- the sort of grand spectacle that the British in India used to arrange periodically, with princelings from across the subcontinent turning up to pay their respects to the Raj.