India should agree to CPEC

should cooperate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) despite it passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in the same way Beijing doesn’t object to New Delhi having economic ties with Taipei, the state media argued on Monday.

Equating the status of the disputed region of PoK with Taiwan as a “sovereignty” issue, the comment piece in the state media argued that India should be “pragmatic” about the CPEC and participate in the $46 billion project for economic benefits.

The Communist country sees Taiwan as a breakaway region. India’s argument against the CPEC – part of the larger Chinaled Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) connectivity project – has been that it violates India’s sovereignty.

China doesn’t object to IndiaTaiwan trade ties. So, New Delhi should not only have no problem with China-Pakistan economic ties through the CPEC but it should actively join in them, the article argued.

Taiwan, an independent democracy with a free press, is officially known as the Republic of China and was the island where Kuomintang rebels fled after losing the civil war to the Communist Party of China in 1949. Since then, Beijing claims Taiwan as a breakaway region to be reunited by force if necessary. A majority of countries, including India, follow the “One-China” policy or the policy of recognising China’s authority, not Taiwan’s.

But many countries such as India also maintain trade and economic ties with Taiwan – so does China itself, while calling it one of its “provinces”.

India-Taiwan trade stands at around $5 billion while ChinaTaiwan trade, according to state media, was nearly $180 billion in 2016. Long Xingchun from the Centre for Indian Studies at China West Normal University equated Taiwan’s status with the status of PoK, which India claims as its territory. HTC