At SCO meet, India refuses to back China’s BRI project

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated06/07/2023

In the New Delhi declaration issued at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders’ summit, India refused to sign on the paragraph supporting the Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI)
A similar formulation was used in the Samarkand declaration in 2022, when India refused to sign off on the paragraph.
India has always opposed the BRI, as it says the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor violates India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty

It is an ambitious project of China that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among multiple countries spread across the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Initially announced in the year 2013, the project involves building networks of roadways, railways, maritime ports, power grids, oil and gas pipelines, and associated infrastructure projects.
The project covers two parts
- Silk Road Economic Belt: It is land-based and is expected to connect China with Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.
- 21st Century Maritime Silk Road: It is sea-based and is expected to connect China’s southern coast to the Mediterranean, Africa, South-East Asia, and Central Asia.

One of the flagship projects of BRI, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is seen by India as infringing its sovereignty.
China is building roads and infrastructure in the disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is under Pakistan’s control but which India claims as a part of Jammu and Kashmir.
If the CPEC project gets implemented successfully, it would hamper India’s strategic interests in the South Asian region.
It will serve Beijing's strategic ambition to encircle India.
CPEC can aid Pakistan’s legitimacy in the Kashmir dispute.
China’s increasing footprints in the South Asian region is detrimental to India’s strategic hold
e.g. construction of the Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka provided China with a critical strategic location in the Indian Ocean.