India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday raised New Delhi’s concerns on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during a three-hour-long meeting with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Swaraj made it clear India would “resolutely oppose” CPEC which runs through Indian-claimed territory in ‘Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’ (PoK). The statement comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted at an all-party meeting in New Delhi that “PoK belongs to India”, Times of India in a report said.
India also took up China’s blocking of its bid for the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) membership and Beijing’s opposition to UN sanctions against Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar.
Swaraj also raised the issue of China blocking India’s efforts to get JeM chief Masood Azhar, which India claims to be mastermind of the Mumbai and Pathankot terror attacks, banned by the UN.
“China’s technical hold on listing of Masood Azhar in the UNSC 1267 Committee was also taken up. China was urged to revisit its technical hold in line with its own professed zero-tolerance towards terrorism,” the newspaper said.
The Chinese side, however, remained unmoved on both issues. On NSG, Wang conveyed China’s persistence with India’s signing of the NPT, while on Masood Azhar, he askedIndia to “sort it out” with Pakistan.
Interestingly, the Chinese foreign minister had not visited to discuss the issues raised by India. He was reportedly more focused on getting India’s cooperation at the forthcoming multilateral summits like G-20, BRICS, East Asia Summit etc in the coming months.