The Indian Foreign Office has conveyed its concerns to China and Pakistan over the proposed economic corridor’s path through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which "violates India’s sovereignty".
New Delhi (Sputnik) — "Our concerns are well known. It is a Chinese initiative. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through sovereign Indian Territory. So our concerns in this regard have been conveyed to both China and Pakistan," Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup told the media.
The three countries have been verbally skirmishing over the CPEC. Pakistan Army's Southern Command Chief Gen. Amir Riaz has invited India to join CPEC and "share the fruits of future development by shelving anti-Pakistan activities and subversion."
Chinese scholar Liu Zongyi advocated a more reasonable proposition in the Global Times: "Pakistanis by and large don't want India to be part of the CPEC, or they believe, if India hopes to join, it must try to improve bilateral ties first. China believes that India should be part of the project and actively persuades Pakistan to accept it.''
China's ambitious commercial venture passes through Pakistan administered Kashmir which is a cause of concern for India since it considers Kashmir as its own territory.
India is also worried that CPEC will give China access to the Indian Ocean and Pakistan's strength will increase. Gwadar would become a major sea port that would give China a foothold in the western Indian Ocean. Further, China would also get easy access to the Arabian Sea. These moves, India feels, would undermine India's influence in the region.
China will invest more than $60 billion in this project which aims to facilitate trade along an overland route from Kashgar in China to Gwadar port in Pakistan, through a network of highways, railways and pipelines. CPEC is in fact an extension of China's One Belt One Road project.
This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.