Interpreting China’s One Belt One Road Initiative: Framing China’s Actions and Behaviour within the Realist Theoretical Discourse of International Relations

One Belt One Road (OBOR) is the geopolitical and geo-economic strategy through which China aims at extending its overarching influence in the global power game. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which reaches the Indian Ocean forms part of this strategy. The Maritime Silk Road is the sea-based component of this strategy. The article aims at addressing the genesis and rationale of this strategy. It is argued that though overtly OBOR is purported to have commercial objectives, but covertly it (OBOR) has strategic implications for extending China’s overarching hegemony and sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and beyond.