India skips China durbar
Xi calls for respecting each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity
Taking on India without naming it, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday hailed the controversial ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as an “economic undertaking open to all countries in the region” as “it has no geographical boundaries” and that “it must not be politicised”.
Mr Sharif said this in his address at the One Belt One Road (OBOR) conference in Beijing, which was boycotted by New Delhi.
Referring to CPEC, India had issued a strong statement on Saturday night, saying that “No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In an apparent snub to India, which is opposed to the CPEC (a flagship project of OBOR) as it passes through Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the OBOR conference that “all countries should respect each other’s sovereignty, dignity and territorial integrity, each other’s development paths and social systems, and each other’s core interests and major concerns”.
India is the only major invitee to boycott the meet and this is expected to further widen the schism between New Delhi and Beijing, triggered by China blocking India’s NSG membership and also blocking United Nation’s sanctions on Pakistan-based terrorist mastermind Masood Azhar.
In another veiled barb at India, Mr Sharif added: “Before I conclude, I must emphasise OBOR has gained wide traction. It negates the logic of polarisation and rejects the encirclement of any country. It is about connectivity. It is about emancipation... The fact is that now OBOR belongs to us all — those who are participating in it and those who are not as yet.”