China says India to attend Silk Road summit, but no change in its stand on PoK
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China's stand on projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) saying they "had no relationship with the (Kashmir) dispute".
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced today that India was among 92 countries that would send official representation to its May 14 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, while he reaffirmed China's stand on projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) saying they "had no relationship with the dispute".
Defending the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, parts of which pass through PoK, the Chinese Foreign Minister said China's projects in the region had predated CPEC by many years and had no relation to the Kashmir dispute.
"As for disputes in Kashmir, China's position has remained unchanged. The CPEC has no relationship with the dispute in certain regions. I want to reaffirm this to our Indian friends," he told a briefing in Beijing.
While Indian officials had previously said India was undecided on attending the "Belt and Road Forum" given its concerns on CPEC, Wang indicated China had been told of India's participation.
"Although the Indian leader will not be here, India will have a representative. We welcome the Indian representative as well as members of the business and finance community to take part in the summit," Wang said.
The Indian Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his remarks.
CPEC NOT RELATED TO BORDER DISPUTES
Wang argued that the dispute in PoK predated CPEC - as did China's projects there, such as the Karakoram highway - and that it had no bearing on China's stand on Kashmir, that it did not take sides and was for India and Pakistan to resolve.
"I want to mention that the CPEC is economic, and for the purpose of serving economic cooperation and development. It has no direct link with political or border disputes," he said. "Certain sections of the CPEC have raised concerns on the Indian side but these disputes are not the result of the economic corridor and the economic activities in this region are not the direct result of CPEC. China has been providing support to Pakistan in these areas for many, many years. This is a contribution China is making for development of our neighbouring countries."
Wang added, "I want to say we welcome India's participation in the building of the Belt and Road. Both are developing countries and the most important task for us is to speed up development so that our peoples will live a better life. The Belt and Road is for the purpose of common development of all participants. We will provide opportunities for participants to build on their complementarity, including investments in infrastructure. So we welcome India to take an active part in building the Belt and Road."
28 HEAD OF STATES TO PARTICIPATE
Underlining China's success in pushing the "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative, which envisages building a land Silk Road economic belt to Eurasia and a Maritime Silk Road to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, Wang said 28 heads of state and government had already confirmed attendance, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Sri Lanka and seven out of 10 ASEAN countries, except Brunei, Singapore and Thailand.
The list of confirmed leaders included the presidents of Argentina, Belarus, Chile, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Philippines, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Sri Lanka would also attend, as also State Councillor Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi.
President Xi Jinping will open the May 14 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
On India's attendance, Wang said, "If India wants to take part in the Belt and Road, there are many channels and ways."
"Our Indian friends also told us they believe the Belt and Road initiative is a very good initiative. India is taking part in this initiative in its own way. For example, we have the Bangladesh China India Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor which is one of the major economic corridors China is planning with neighbouring countries. India is part of that with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The four countries are ready to advance the economic corridor within the framework of Belt and Road."
"We have taken note of India's positive attitude on this," he added. "In addition to this we can have further discussion and consultation on possible areas of cooperation within areas of the Belt and Road."
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