Blunder or not, India skipping Silk Road meet was a rare display of spine

By going along with the crowd, India has seriously damaged its own interests in the past

President Xi Jinping was a satisfied leader last weekend as he beamed at officials from over 70 countries, including 28 heads of state, gathered in Beijing for the coming-out party of his signature project, formerly called One Belt, One Road and now dubbed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The belt in this awkward label is the “Silk Road Economic Belt”: a network of road, rail and telecommunication links and energy pipelines that are planned to seamlessly connect China, through Central Asia, with Europe. It also includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), running from China’s north-western Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s Gwadar