Chinese President roots For BRI despite India expressing reservations

Chinese President Xi Jinping pitched for his country's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in his speech at the SCO Summit on Tuesday, claiming that the infrastructure project would facilitate regional cooperation and trade and investment, even as host India expressed reservations over such initiatives.

Xi called for "efforts to better synergise high-quality cooperation under the BRI with various countries' development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives". He said the BRI would accelerate "the construction of port infrastructure and regional (and) international logistics channels".

India, which became an SCO member in 2017 along with Pakistan, has refused to join the BRI over "sovereignty concerns" because one of its flagship projects, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), passes through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made this clear yet again on Tuesday.


Without naming any country involved, the Chinese leader criticised "unilateral sanctions", adding that China opposes the "generalisation of the concept of national security", "building walls and barriers" and "decoupling and breaking chains".

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, who also addressed the summit, tried to target India over alleged violations of minority rights and indirectly raised the issue of Kashmiris.