SAARC Membership: India blocks China's entry for the time being

NEW DELHI: India had quietly worked during the Saarc programming committee meetings last week ahead of the Kathmandu summit to block China’s entry into the grouping for the time being by proposing that all nine observers to the bloc, including Beijing, support common development projects in the region to initially become dialogue partners.

China, now an observer in Saarc, has been seeking an entry to the regional organisation, with support from Pakistan which also roped in Sri Lanka and Maldives. A section of Nepali political class also pleaded China’s case. But other SAARC members, including Bangladesh, did not show enthusiasm at the Summit for China’s entry into SAARC, official sources informed.

The official at ministerial level meetings ahead of the Summit decided that nine observers could support SAARC projects to become dialogue partners, sources said.

The Kathmandu Declaration on Thursday also reflected this. “The leaders directed the programming committee to engage the SAARC observers into productive, demanddriven and objective project-based cooperation in areas identified by the member states,” according to the Declaration. Besides China, USA, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Mauritius, Australia and EU are SAARC observers.

Inspired by Moscow, Beijing recently offered its support to India’s bid to be a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

During his recent visit to India last September, Chinese President Xi Jinping requested PM Narendra Modi to reciprocate the gesture by backing Beijing’s attempt to enter the SAARC. Delhi, however, was not committal on it.

SAARC had earlier decided to explore the possibility of elevating the observers to the status of dialogue partners.