Tianjin (China): India on Monday refused to support China's ambitious 'Belt and Road' initiative (BRI), becoming the only country in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to not support the connectivity project.
The declaration issued at the end of the SCO summit in this port city of China said that Russia, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reaffirmed their support for the Chinese connectivity initiative. India has not supported the BRI in any previous SCO meeting or summit.
The declaration said the eight member nations noted the ongoing work on the joint implementation of the project, including efforts to synergise the development of the Eurasian Economic Union and the BRI.
It said, "The member states recognize that with the aim of creating a broad, open, mutually beneficial and equitable area for mutual cooperation in Eurasia, it is important to use the capabilities of the countries of the region, international organisations and multilateral associations, and all this should be done in accordance with the principles and rules of international law, and taking into account the national interests of each country."
"In this regard, they reiterated the initiative to establish a Greater Eurasian Partnership and expressed their readiness to negotiate," the declaration said. India has been strongly criticising the BRI as the project includes the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In his address at the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that connectivity projects that ignore sovereignty lose both trust and meaning. He said, 'We believe that the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity should be upheld in every effort towards connectivity. This is also enshrined in the basic principles of the SCO Charter.' This project is also being criticized globally, as many countries are getting burdened with debt while implementing projects related to this initiative.
