New Delhi: India has yet again refused to endorse China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar asserting that any connectivity project should respect the territorial integrity of nations and international law.
Speaking at a virtual meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, Jaishankar noted that better connectivity in the SCO region should be built on the centrality of interests of Central Asian states.
Even as he touted the Chabahar port and the International North-South Transport Corridor as “enablers”, Jaishankar asserted that “connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states and respect international law”.
This was a reference to China’s connectivity initiative that has faced criticism from India and the West over their strategically located infrastructure projects that have also apparently added to the financial debt burden of developing nations.
The joint communique issued after the meeting expressed “support” for China’s BRI and noted “the joint implementation of the project, including efforts to link the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union and the BRI”.
The support for BRI was endorsed, by name, by all the SCO member states, except for India.
Will unlock the economic potential of this region in which Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridor could become enablers. Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and respect international law.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) November 1, 2022
In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose Central Asia as his first trip abroad since January 2020 – travelling to Kazakhstan and then to Uzbekistan for the SCO summit. It was a potent demonstration of China’s rising focus on the region, where it has made deep inroads through its connectivity projects. Therefore, the endorsement of the BRI by Central Asian countries is not surprising.
India has refused to validate the BRI in joint statements issued by the SCO since it joined the regional organisation as a full member in 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the SCO summit in Samarkand this year, where 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 had asserted that any connectivity initiative “must follow principles of financial responsibility to avoid projects that would create unsustainable debt burden for communities”.
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).