By Our Reporter Western countries have come up aggressively to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by allocating funds to the Asian nations. On Sunday, the Group of 7 announced a new infrastructure funding programme to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The other members of the G-7 including Canada, Germany and Japan formally launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment which aims to raise about $600 billion for global infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income countries in the next five years. The BRI is China’s ambitious programme to build physical and digital infrastructure connecting dozens of countries spanning from Asia to Europe and the Middle East. It has been the centrepiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s foreign policy. In the past decade or so, China has signed more than 170 BRI cooperation agreements with 125 countries and 29 international organisations across Asia and Europe, as well as Africa, Latin America and the South Pacific. Nearly $800 billion in investments have been undertaken within the BRI, surpassing the investments currently pledged by the G-7, reported the international media. Trillions of more dollars were expected to be invested through China’s infrastructure project into the network comprising six development corridors. Nepal may become a battleground for powerful nations because of its geo-political situation. Signs have already been there with the US exerting pressure on Nepal to be a part of its Strategic Partnership Programme (SPP) which the government recently decided not to accept in the pressure from the public and political parties. If the government does not act cautiously, Nepal can fall into the trap of the two rival forces one led by the US and another by China. Currently, there is a pro-Indo-West government in Nepal, it may try to serve the Indo-West strategic interests, which may make the North furious, inviting a new type of tussle in this peaceful nation.