Doklam fallout? Seminar on China's ambitious belt and road initiative cancelled in Kolkata
The seminar titled "BRI, BCIM and Role of Eastern India" organised by the Chinese Consulate General in Kolkata was scheduled for August 10.
A seminar on China's ambitious Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), a key infrastructure project that aims to link the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with India's eastern region via Bangladesh and Myanmar has been cancelled in Kolkata.
The seminar titled "BRI, BCIM and Role of Eastern India" organised by the Chinese Consulate General in Kolkata was scheduled for August 10. In fact, Consul General Ma Jhanwu had briefed the media about the upcoming event in the city last week. However, the agency handling the media for the event has sent messages on Tuesday informing that the event stands cancelled citing "unavoidable circumstances".
Amidst Beijing's shrill rhetoric over Doklam, the Consul General was the first high ranking Chinese official to speak about the need for enhanced cultural and trade exchanges between the two nations.
"The exchanges between China and India will contribute to the overall atmosphere of this relationship and would also contribute to solving the problems that exists between India and China. In this regard we hope to advocate more exchanges, in cultural, educational, trade, tourism and other areas," Jhanwu had said, while interacting with the media in Kolkata.
China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an estimated 1.3 trillion US dollar investment programme aimed to create a "new silk route" to enhance economic interconnectivity through a web of infrastructure projects including roads, railways tracks, and ports through several countries.
Boycotting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) summit held in Beijing this year, India has raised its objections as the infrastructure corridor passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) on one side and aims to link it with India's eastern sector with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor.
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