Chinese think tank has issued a warning to India, saying China will have to get involved if any Indian “plot” disrupts the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in restive Balochistan.
Chinese think tank has warned India that China will intervene if India will incite violence in Balochistan and disrupts the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
“China will have to get involved if any Indian plot disrupts the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC),” Chinese scholar, Hu Shisheng said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Balochistan has become a major concern for China and its scholars, including Hu Shisheng, the Director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR).
Hu Shisheng is associated with one of the country’s most powerful think tanks, which is also is affiliated with the Ministry of State Security. In his interview, the expert also said that India’s strengthening military ties with the U.S. as well as its stance on the South China Sea dispute has also become a cause for concern for China.
Chinese policy experts are “deeply disturbed” by Indian PM Modi’s recent reference to Balochistan, forewarning that New Delhi’s involvement in Balochistan province will dearly affect the India-China ties.
“The latest concern for Beijing is (Indian) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the Red Fort in which he referred to the issues like Kashmir (occupied by Pakistan) and Balochistan,” Hu said.
The CPEC is an important part of Xi Jinping’s pet project One Belt, One Road. It’s worth pointing put that a large portion of the CPEC runs through Pakistan’s restive Balochistan. The port of Gwadar is where the Chinese are planning to send finished goods across to Europe and import crude oil to China’s Xinjiang province.
The CPEC is a series of projects that connect China’s Xinjiang province to Pakistan’s Gwadar port in Balochistan. The 3000 km long CEPC, which is part of China’s Silk Road project, officially called Belt and Road is aimed at connecting the two countries with rail, road, pipelines and optical cable fiber network. India has strongly opposed the economic corridor as it passes through Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir region, which India has claimed sovereignty over.
This article published in Indian media reminds India of the gravity of the comment by the Chinese scholar.
“Even at the height of the Kargil War, China had not taken a public position backing Pakistan, a country which Chinese state media calls ‘iron brother’. This is the first time that the Chinese are articulating support to Pakistan in the event of a future armed conflict between New Delhi and Islamabad. This only lends further heft to the worst fears of India’s security forces: a two-front war with both China and Pakistan.”
Pakistan has long accused India of creating troubles in the region. However, India has always denied such claims.
Courtesy: IRIA News