China must be mindful of India’s concerns regarding the CPEC. An extract
Kulbushan Warikoo
Through CPEC, China has increased its communication footprint in Pakistan. Direct cross-border optic fibre cable has been laid from Tashkurghan in Xinjiang (across Khunjerab Pass) till Rawalpindi to deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation by establishing fast, reliable connectivity that is not routed through Europe or the US. It is poised to increase connectivity in remote but strategically important areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan. It is also planned to provide the Central Asian republics a new, shorter and cost-effective route for connectivity. China’s Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) technology is being brought into Pakistan to cover 90 per cent of its population. The communication plans include installation of surveillance cameras, explosives’ detectors and scanners covering major roads, sensitive areas and crowded places. Tashkurghan (in Xinjiang) has been developed as a hub with a new airport. China has officially donated security vehicles with its banner (China Aid) to Pakistan for use in Gilgit-Baltistan. China has introduced yak-mounted cavalry to guard the Sino-Pak border. There are plans to build a railway running parallel to KKH from Havelian to Khunjerab, from where it will be linked to China’s railway system at Kashgar. Gilgit-Baltistan functions mainly as a corridor between industrial centres and consumer markets in Xinjiang and Punjab (Pakistan). Plans are afoot to shift the Sust dry port in Gilgit to Havelian, which is being built on war footing. To conclude, CPEC is a strategic gain for China, as it will give the country access to oil-rich West Asia through Gwadar. Currently, 80 per cent of China’s imported oil is transported over a distance of about 16,000 km through the Strait of Malacca to Shanghai, over three months. Once Gwadar Port becomes operational, it will reduce the distance to only about 2,500 km providing China the shortest route and access to the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Heavy involvement of China in CPEC and Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and Gwadar is a new security dimension to the situation in the region. Policymakers in Pakistan emphasize the importance of Gwadar and CPEC not only for Pakistan and China, but also for Central Asia, as it would provide the landlocked Central Asian republics an easy and short overland route to the sea. Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf had highlighted ‘Pakistan’s potential to become the commercial hub for Central and South-West Asia and renew the ancient Silk Route’. CPEC is viewed by Pakistan as yielding strategic dividends, as a counter to India and any inimical force in the neighbourhood. As Senge Sering (a Balti scholar) puts it, ‘The Karakoram Corridor binds Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and China into a regional security bloc, which will be an anti-dote to counter Indian and Western influences in the region.’ One must also take into account the emerging equations of Pakistan with Turkey, Azerbaijan and even Russia.
India has been forthright in its opposition to CPEC, as it passes through the Pakistan-occupied territory of Gilgit-Baltistan, claimed by India. It violates Indian sovereignty and territorial integrity. Though China invited India to participate in the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) held in Beijing from 16-17 May 2017, India did not accept the same. Indian foreign ministry issued a statement on 13 May 2017 reiterating Indian position on the issue. It stated: ‘…Regarding the so-called “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor”, which is being projected as the flagship project of the BRI/OBOR, the international community is well aware of India’s position. No country can accept a project that ignores the core concerns of sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The then China’s Ambassador in India, Luo Zhaohui while speaking at the United Service Institute, New Delhi on 5 May 2017—few days before Beijing hosted the first BRF—acknowledged that, ‘India still has reservations over the OBOR, saying that the CPEC passes through the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir raising sovereignty issues. China has no intention to get involved in the sovereignty and territorial disputes between the two countries. China supports the solution of the disputes between India and Pakistan through bilateral negotiations between the two countries.’ Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shri Muraleedharan, while speaking in Indian Parliament on February 2020, said:
Government’s concerns arise in part from the fact that the inclusion of the so-called project of ‘OBOR/BRI’, directly impinges on the issue of sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. This so-called illegal CPEC passes through parts of the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh which are under illegal occupation of Pakistan. Government has conveyed its concerns to the Chinese side about their activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and has asked them to cease such activities.
Apart from violating Indian sovereignty, the deep Sino-Pak nexus poses a serious challenge to Indian security along its northern frontiers and beyond in Afghanistan and Central Asia. The creeping Chinese incursions in Galwan, Pangong, Depsang and other areas in Ladakh, and the resultant tension between the two countries, is a wake-up call for India to take concerted steps to assert its physical control over its remote frontiers and to adopt a calibrated diplomatic and military response to the looming threat. On its part, China is conscious of the legal-constitutional limbo in Gilgit-Baltistan, which is not recognized as part of Pakistan under its constitution.
THE CROSSROADS: KASHMIR—INDIA’S BRIDGE TO XINJIANG
KULBUSHAN WARIKOO
Rupa Publications, Pg 320, Rs 795