By Admin 
At the 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Tianjin city of China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the plane session, made a big statement on connectivity and sovereignty. PM Modi said that connectivity should always respect sovereignty and regional integrity. This is the basic principle of SCO Charter. Connectivity that bypasses sovereignty cannot be trusted and has no importance.
This statement is directly considered a gesture on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). This project is the most important part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and India has been opposing it for a long time. PM Modi further said that India believes that strong connectivity ensures not only business, but also trust and development. From this point of view, India is working on the Chabahar Port and the International North-South Transport Corridor (Instc), which will strengthen connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
He said that India has always been trying that the SCO is not limited to governments, but it should be linked to common people, youth, researchers and startups so that the organization’s reach and impact can increase.
What is Bri?
BRI (BELT and Road Initiative), which is called One Belt, One Road in Chinese, is a major global initiative of China. It started with the objective that Chinese companies should manufacture transport, energy and other infrastructure projects abroad. These projects are funded by loans from Chinese development banks.
Its main goal is to improve connectivity to the rest of the world of China and thus the business and economy get strengthened. In a way, it can be called the new Silk Road of the 21st century, which creates a trade route from China to Europe via Middle East.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the idea in 2013 during visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia. After this, this initiative progressed rapidly and many big projects were created under it, such as railways in Kenya and Laos and power stations in Pakistan and Indonesia.
Why is India against Bri?
India has opposed BRI from the beginning and the biggest reason for this is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). CPEC is the flagship project of Bri, which passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). India believes that this is a violation of its sovereign rights, because Pok is an integral part of India.
The Government of India says that it has repeatedly lodged a formal protest against the countries concerned on this issue and asked them to stop such activities. The Ministry of External Affairs has made it clear that the government’s stand is clear and stable. At the same time, the Government of India continuously keeps a close watch on every development related to this project and takes all the necessary steps to protect the security and integrity of the country.
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