India on Friday skipped Beijing’s Belt and Road forum for a second time in protest against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) even as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the controversial project has entered a new phase and would go further ahead.
India sternly opposes the CPEC, a key artery of the Belt andRoad project that cuts through PaK, New Delhi’s raison d’etre for staying awayfrom the trillion-dollar connectivity scheme.
Like the launch of the Belt and Road forum in 2017, Indiagave the second edition of the summit a miss over the CPEC.
India not approving the corridor has become a sticky pointin its relations with China.
China maintains that the project is purely economic innature and won’t impact Beijing’s neutral stance on the Kashmir issue.
Proposed by Xi in 2013, the Belt and Road aims to connectAsia, Africa and Europe through a vast network of highways, rail lines and sealanes.
The heads of 37 countries and official representatives fromnations and international organisations have gathered at the three-day event onthe trillion-dollar connectivity project that President Xi Jinping sought todefend against mounting criticism that it was pushing poor countries into”debt trap”.
Pakistan, China’s close ally, is said to be one of thecountries saddled with Chinese debt.
In his keynote address at the opening ceremony, Khan laudedthe CPEC.
“Together Pakistan and China are entering the nextphase of CPEC, with greater emphasis on socioeconomic uplift,” he said, addingthat the next phase would be “supplemented” by the signing of anexpanded free trade pact between the countries.
The project has come under criticism from some Pakistanigovernment officials who have expressed concerns about their country’sinability to pay back Chinese loans.
The US and other nations have also raised questions aboutChina pushing countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives into “debttraps” by giving them loans at usurious interest rates.
At the event, Xi tried to dispel those fears.
“In pursuing the Belt and Road cooperation, everythingshould be done in a transparent way and we should have zero tolerance forcorruption.
“We welcome the participation of the multilateral andnational financial institutions in BRI investment and financing. And weencourage third market cooperation. With the involvement of the multiplesstakeholders, we can surely deliver benefits to all.
“We have also formulated guiding principles offinancing the development of the Belt and Road and published a debt sustainabilityframework for participating countries of the BRI to provide guidance for BRIfinancing cooperation.
“The laws and regulation of participating countries should also be respected. We need to take people’s centric approach and give priority to poverty alleviation and job creation to see the joint pursuit of Belt and Road cooperation would deliver true benefits to the people of the participating countries,” the Chinese leader added.
IANS