India has again opposed China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on Thursday.
India’s opposition to BRI comes against the backdrop of Maldives’ president-elect Mohamed Muizzu highlighting the role of Beijing’s flagship infrastructure programme in the development of participating countries.
The Indian side’s cooperation with the Maldives is based on jointly addressing shared challenges and priorities, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular media briefing, referring to security and development assistance provided to the Indian Ocean archipelago by New Delhi, reported HT.
India’s position on BRI, including the programme’s “lack of respect for our sovereignty and territorial integrity are well known and consistent”, Bagchi was quoted as having said.
He as per the report said that unlike in the past, India had not been invited by China to this year’s Belt and Road Forum. “I don’t think we received an invitation this year,” he said.
India opted to stay out of the BRI since a key section of the massive infrastructure project – the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and because New Delhi believes the programme does not offer a level playing field to non-Chinese companies.
Bagchi pointed to a statement issued by India in May 2017, when the first Belt and Road Forum was held, to oppose the BRI and said the country’s “concerns still stand today”. Parts of CPEC pass through territories that are in “illegal occupation of Pakistan” and this amounts to a violation of India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said, the report mentioned.
This year’s Belt and Road Forum marks the 10th anniversary of BRI and the event in Beijing was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin just weeks after he skipped the G20 Summit hosted by India.
Bagchi said India is “loathe to link G20 participation with other things” and noted that India had invited all G20 members to the summit in New Delhi.
