CPEC – The Kashmir Horizon

India boycotts Beijing meet; China formalises CPEC as flagship project of OBOR

United News of India — Sun, 14 May 2017 14:54:42 +0000

New Delhi/Beijing: Beijing today gave a formal status to the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the flagship programme of ‘One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative on a day President Xi Jinping opened the first meeting of the Belt and Road forum, which India is boycotting on the ground that the economic corridor violated its territorial sovereignty as it passes through Pakisatn Occupied Kashmr.
President Xi pledged 14.
5 billion dollars to the Silk Road Fund as he inaugurated the international conclave in which 29 heads of state, including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin and all of India’s neighbours except Bhutan besides top officials from the US, South Korea and Japan are participating.
‘’We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy,’’ the Chinese President said in his inaugural address.
In a remark obviously aimed at India, Mr Xi said the belt and road initiative respected ‘’territorial integrity.

Pakistan signs nearly 500 mln dollars in China deals at Silk Road summit

United News of India — Sat, 13 May 2017 14:43:38 +0000

ISLAMABAD, May 13: Pakistan signed new deals with China on Saturday worth nearly 500 million dollars ahead of Beijing’s international forum on its “Silk Road” trade and infrastructure initiative for Asia, Africa and Europe, the Pakistani government said.
The memorandums of understanding add to 57 billion dollars already pledged for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a network of rail, road and energy infrastructure that is part of the wider Chinese project also known as One Belt-One Road.
The deals came as Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Beijing summit expected to be attended by leaders from at least 29 countries to promote Xi’s vision of expanding trade links.
Delegates in Beijing will hold a series of sessions tomorrow to discuss the plan in more detail, including trade and finance.
Proposed in 2013 by Xi, the project is broad on ambition but still short on specifics.
(Reuters)

China says CPEC has ‘no direct link’ with Kashmir issue

K H News Service — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 20:31:03 +0000

Beijing/ April, 17: China on Tuesday defended the strategic China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passing through PaK over which India has lodged strong protests, saying the project has “no direct link” with the Kashmir issue as it was an “economic” venture.
Seeking to allay India’s concerns, China also said New Delhi was welcome to actively participate in the ‘One Belt One Road’ (OBOR) project, a pet initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“First, I want to say that we welcome India’s participation in the building of the One Belt One Road project,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said addressing a media briefing on the OBOR summit to be held here from May 14 -15.
OBOR is the official name for the multi-billion dollars Silk Road project initiated by Xi to expand China’s connectivity and strategic influence in the neighbourhood and around the world.
The OBOR summit has posed a dilemma for India as the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the initiative which passes through the Pakistan- adminsterd Kashmir (PaK).
Commenting for the first time on India’s objections over the CPEC, Wang said, “You also mentioned CPEC, I want to reiterate that economic corridor is economic.”
It is for the purpose of serving economic cooperation and development, Wang said, replying to a question about what specific steps China was willing to take to address India’s concerns to enable it take part in the OBOR summit.
“It (CPEC) has no direct link with (the) political and boundary dispute. Certain sections of the CPEC have raised concern on the Indian side. But these disputes are not the result of the economic corridor and economic activities,” Wang said, defending the project over which India has protested to China in the past.
Economic activities in these regions are not the direct result of the CPEC. China has been providing support to Pakistan in these areas for many years, Wang said.
“This is a contribution China is making for the development of neighbouring countries, it is a constructive contribution China is making,” he said.
“As for the dispute of Kashmir, China’s position remained unchanged. Also, CPEC has no relationship with the dispute in certain regions…if India wants to take part in the OBOR, there are many channels and ways,” he said.
Wang also said China has taken positive note of India’s participation in another project — the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) corridor.
“India is taking part in the project in its own way. For example, we have this BCIM which is one of the major economic corridors China is planning with the neighbouring countries,” he said.
“We have taken note of India’s positive attitude on this. In addition to the BCIM economic corridor, we can also have further discussion of cooperation on the OBOR,” Wang said.
He said 28 heads of state and government will participate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Sri Lankan Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and Myanmar State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi are among the leaders that have confirmed their participation.
“Although, an Indian leader will not be here but India will have a representative,” Wang said, without specifying who would be representing India.
“We welcome Indian representative, members of the Indian business community and financial community to take part in the discussions at the summit,” Wang said.
In addition to the 28 leaders, 16 Foreign Ministers and Vice Ministers, 190 officials of 92 countries will be taking part in the summit which would discuss various aspect of the project, he said.
Representatives of 110 countries besides UN Secretary General, heads of World Bank and IMF will also be taking part in the event, Wang said.
The summit will have 1,200 participants, Wang said.
Agencies