By Bhoj Raj Poudel & Kawsu Walter Ceesay
India needs to change its approach towards Chinese participation in SAARC and South Asia.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his speech at the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu saying that India’s vision of the South Asia rests on five pillars: trade, investment, assistance, cooperation and people-to-people connections. Progress within the five pillars can only be achieved by focusing on “all through seamless connectivity.” India, being the biggest country in the regional bloc, explicitly highlighted that it would lead the sub-continent to shared peace and prosperity.
Since the inception of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in 1985, India has been a leader, in which capacity it has delivered very little. Modi has been unable to change that: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif blocked all three key connectivity agreements, including the motor vehicle pact, which was proposed by India. Worse, at least from the perspective of the Modi government, might be the increased pressure from other member states to upgrade China’s role in SAARC. Led by Pakistan, China’s closest friend within the bloc, the summit saw intense lobbying to change China’s status from an observer to a member. Nepali politicians also called for China to be made a member. Interestingly, Nepal had also proposed to involve China as an observer state on the 2005 Dhaka summit.
Read the full story at The Diplomat