Lessons from the ancient silk road for modern China’s belt and road initiative

As per the official claims, China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a multi-trillion- dollar connectivity plan designed to mutually benefit the participating states. Does it really have a benefit for member states because there are concerns about the design and motives of this initiative? India is one of those states that has questioned the motivating factors behind this connectivity plan. It views it as a grand strategy that China unilaterally designed and that violates the sovereignty of other nations. The connectivity plan involves more than one state, and therefore it can’t be unilateral. In ancient times, there was another similar connectivity plan covering the same geographical region known as the Ancient Silk Road. It was an organic and multilateral initiative established willingly by the participating civilizations. There were no sovereignty or debt issues in the formulation of that plan. Following such a line of argument, what are the lessons that China can draw from that age-old plan and adopt in the reconfiguration of the modern Belt and Road initiatives?