At the crossroads

Why India won’t be at the Belt & Road Summit in Beijing

April 20, 2017 12:02 am | Updated 12:25 am IST

Ambitious project: The ‘Golden Bridge of Silk Road’, outside the venue for next month’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. AP Andy Wong

Ambitious project: The ‘Golden Bridge of Silk Road’, outside the venue for next month’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. AP Andy Wong

What is the Belt & Road Summit?

The Belt and Road Summit is China’s first international conference of all the 60-plus countries that have signed up to be a part of the infrastructure corridor also known as the New Silk Route and the One Belt One Road (OBOR) project since it was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. The route, for which China has already allocated a $40-billion fund, is made up of railway lines, roads, highways, maritime channels and energy projects that will connect China to places as far as the U.K., essentially for trade in goods and fuel supplies.

Who is attending?

At a press conference this week to unveil the agenda of the summit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that at least 28 heads of state and government will attend the forum in Beijing on May 14-15, including Russian President Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Spanish, Greek, Hungarian, Serb and Polish PMs and the Swiss and Czech Presidents will also attend. Italy will be the only member of the G-7 to attend at a head of state level. In addition, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde are also expected.

Why is India refusing to attend?

India has been wary of China’s intentions with the project since it was first invited in February 2014. Those worries were further enforced when Mr. Xi announced $46 billion for projects in Pakistan to construct the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which will connect to Xinjiang through parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Indian officials have made it clear that they cannot be a part of the summit which will include Indian territory as a part of Pakistan, and will not attend the summit at a senior level or discuss joining the B&R Initiative until China clarifies its stand on PoK.

Could India join the B&RI at a later date?

Theoretically, if India’s political and strategic concerns are met, the initiative could be seen as viable, particularly given that many of the projects envisaged under the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) corridor and the “Asian Highway project” would dovetail into B&RI plans. Already, all of India’s neighbours (with the exception of Bhutan) are a part of it, and India too is keen to increase connectivity with them. However, tense bilateral ties with China, and India’s growing concerns over Chinese hegemonic intentions in South Asia and the ‘Indo-Pacific’ region make it practically unlikely that India will consider joining it in the near future.

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