India reiterates opposition to China’s BRI at SCO meeting

Kathmandu: India on Tuesday reiterated its opposition to China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) in the Delhi Declaration issued at the culmination of the virtual SCO summit.

The declaration said that all the other member nations of the SCO reaffirmed their support to BRI, except India.

India refused to sign on the paragraph of the Declaration supporting the BRI.

A similar formulation was used in the Samarkand declaration in 2022, when India refused to sign off on the paragraph.

The BRI paragraph in the New Delhi Declaration of 2023 reads, ‘Reaffirming their support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initiative, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan and Republic of Uzbekistan note the ongoing work to jointly implement this project, including efforts to link the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union and BRI.’

India has always opposed the BRI, as it says the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor violates India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

On the issue of terrorism, the Delhi declaration uses similar language, except changing a word from the Samarkand declaration: instead of ‘ultranationalism’, it uses “chauvinism” this time.

‘The member states consider it important to build up joint coordinated efforts by the international community to counter the activities of terrorist, separatist and extremist groups, paying special attention to preventing the spread of religious intolerance, aggressive nationalism, ethnic and racial discrimination, xenophobia, ideas of fascism and chauvinism,’ the declaration reads.

The SCO summit was held virtually under India’s presidency, and saw the participation of China President Xi Jinping, Russia President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.