Letter From the Editors

Welcome to the September 2023 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

One of the most important jobs of media is laying bare the gaps between rhetoric and reality. That’s the framework for this issue: exploring how actions begin to stray from their initial purpose. This is especially true in the policy world, as shown by the non-linear evolution of China’s Belt and Road, as well as the United States’ patchwork Pacific Islands policy. But the gap between intentions and actions also extends into the social fabric as well, as in Myanmar where women are claiming agency by joining the resistance movement – only to run up against old patriarchal structures. And in India, the standard bearers of Hindu nationalism risk impoverishing their own faith, which has always been a wellspring of diversity in thought and belief.

10 years ago this month, Xi Jinping announced the launch of a “Silk Road Economic Belt” in Kazakhstan. From those humble beginnings, what became known as the “Belt and Road Initiative” has spread throughout the world, a massive amalgamation of nearly every development project Chinese companies have undertaken on foreign soil. Ana Horigoshi, a senior research analyst in AidData's Policy Analysis Unit, turns to the data to explain how the BRI has changed since its launch. China’s funding to the developing world has indeed grown dramatically since the BRI’s launch, Horigoshi notes, but in other ways the BRI is misunderstood. For example, infrastructure projects are less common than education initiatives, and billion-dollar mega-projects are far outnumbered by smaller, more focused jobs.

Next, Devdutt Pattanaik, the author of 50 books on the relevance of mythology in modern times, delves into the gap between Hindutva and Hinduism. Hindutva, he argues, misunderstands Hinduism itself, as “there is nothing fixed or universal in Hinduism.” Instead, the Hindu nationalist movement ironically follows the lead of the British colonizers, who tried to fit Hinduism into neat boxes that aligned with their own monotheistic religion. As a result, the rigid structure of the Hindutva narrative leaves “no room for diversity, dynamism, dilemmas, and doubt,” writes Pattanaik. “...There is only space for alignment, discipline, and submission. One leader. One language. One way of being. Such has never been the Indian way.”

The United States was jolted to the awareness that its Pacific policy needed an overhaul when Solomon Islands inked a security agreement with China in the spring of 2022. Since then, Washington has stepped up engagement, including hosting a summit with Pacific Islands leaders, opening a wave of new embassies in the region, and increasing official travel. But for all the rosy press releases, there are curious gaps in U.S. Pacific policy, writes Cleo Paskal, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. These range from the basic – it is still incredibly difficult for Pacific Islands residents to get visas to the U.S. – to the more profound – the U.S. is overlooking the ways China seeks to use corrupt means to hollow out Pacific democracies from within. Overall, Paskal writes, “while Washington may have woken up to the region’s importance, it doesn’t seem to have realized the situation is urgent.”

Finally, Rajeev Bhattacharyya, a veteran journalist from Northeast India, highlights the crucial and varied roles women are playing in Myanmar’s anti-coup resistance movement. Bhattacharyya, who traveled to Chin State and Sagaing Region to meet with resistance leaders earlier this year, notes that there are women fighting with armed groups – though they face prejudice and stereotypes in their efforts. More common, though, are women doing the work that keeps the resistance afloat: raising badly needed funds, pressuring foreign government to take action, and keeping independent journalism alive in Myanmar.

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many more in the following pages.