CHINA FOR EXTENDING CPEC TO AFGHANISTAN
In 1st of its kind meet, China, Pak, Afghanistan agree for talks
Beijing, Dec. 26: China on Tuesday offered to extend its ambitious ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan as the three nations pledged to step up counter-terrorism cooperation and not to allow any country, group or individual to use their territories for terror acts.
Beijing, Dec. 26: China on Tuesday offered to extend its ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan as the three nations pledged to stepup counter terrorism cooperation and not to allow any country, group or individual to use their territories for terror acts.
In the first meeting of its kind since the three sides agreed to establish a trilateral dialogue mechanism in June, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani and Pakistan counterpart Khawaja Asif met here and discussed issues concerning their interests.
Presiding over the meeting after his recent shuttle diplomacy, Wang said China and Pakistan would like to extend over $50 billion CPEC to Afghanistan after reaching “gradual consensus”.
He said China and Pakistan are willing to work with Afghanistan, on the basis of win-win, mutually beneficial principles, using an appropriate means to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.
The three countries could reach a gradual consensus, tackling easier, smaller projects first, Wang said.
In his address, Asif referred to CPEC, describing it as a flagship project of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative but remained silent about its extension to Afghanistan.
“The successful implementation of CPEC projects will serve as a model for enhancing connectivity and cooperation through similar projects in neighbouring countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Central and West Asia,” he added.
China’s offer to extend CPEC is significant from India’s point of view considering New Delhi's strong objection to the project which traverses through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.