Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said, “In so far, as the China-Pakistan economic corridor is concerned, our position has been made very clear to both the parties concerned that it passes through Indian sovereign territory under Pakistan’s illegal occupation. When we say PoK, it is exactly that is Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. It is part of Indian Territory and India would obviously be concerned about any project happening there with any third party collaboration.”
Meanwhile, news agency PTI quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying as saying, “We are well aware of these concerns but as has been said before, this China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a platform for long term development. It targets no third country and we strongly believe that this corridor will work for connectivity, regional peace and development. Our position on the Kashmir issue is consistent. This issue is left-over from history between India and Pakistan. It needs to be resolved between India and Pakistan through consultation.”
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a 46 billion dollar infrastructure project that intends to link Xinjiang province, China to Gwadar port, Pakistan, near the Iranian border. China has not disclosed the details of the project, but said that several road, rail and power projects are planned for the corridor.
