Jaishankar on China’s BRI: ‘Connectivity initiatives must respect sovereignty, territorial integrity’

In a reference to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), External Affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said “any serious connectivity initiative must be transparent and conform to the most basic principle of respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Jaishankar made these comments during a virtual address at a meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on Thursday. India has been critical of the BRI as the USD 500-billion corridor passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

He also said that repeated attempts to deliberately bring bilateral issues into the SCO violate the laid down principles of the grouping and such counter-productive acts should be “condemned”.