At SCO Meet, Jaishankar reiterates opposition to China's Belt and Road Initiative

New Delhi, Nov 2: "Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and respect international law", External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said in a veiled message aimed at China's China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), at a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of Government hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday.

Dr. Jaishankar also batted for more trade through Iran’s Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridors (INSTC) that India is a part of, aiming to improve bilateral trade with Central Asian countries.

It is pertinent to mention that the Ministry of External Affairs stated that a joint communique was adopted after the meeting. It named all countries, except India, and said they “reaffirmed their support for the BRI, "including the work to promote the alignment of the ‘Belt and Road’ construction with the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union".

"Our total trade with SCO Members is only $141 billion, which has potential to increase manifold. Fair market access is to our mutual benefit and only way to move forward," Dr. Jaishankar said at the meet which included Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and the Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

 

 

China’s connectivity initiative has faced criticism from India and the West over their strategically located infrastructure projects. India has refused to acknowledge the BRI in joint statements issued by the SCO since it joined the regional organisation as a full member in 2018. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the SCO summit in Samarkand this year, India had again refused to back the BRI in the joint statement.

 

New Delhi had given a detailed statement on its objections to China’s BRI in 2017 when it snubbed an invitation to participate in the summit to celebrate the connectivity initiative in Beijing.. India’s objection on the grounds of territorial integrity is due to the opposition to the BRI’s ‘China Pakistan Economic Corridor’ that winds through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Ladakh (i.e. Gilgit-Baltistan).