India is likely to boycott China’s Belt and Road Forum (BRF) beginning here on Sunday in view of sovereignty concerns related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the initiative that is expected to figure prominently in the two-day meet. While there is no official word with the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi declining to comment, informed sources told PTI that India may not take part in BRF. This is contrary to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's announcement last month that India will have a representative at the meet, a prestigious initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The likely boycott will leave India in a tight spot as China in the last few days has managed to rope in even the US, which on Friday agreed to send a top official after Washington clinched a lucrative trade deal.
“It is a tricky situation for India because it cannot get any diplomatic dividend by attending it. On the contrary, it may be embarrassing for the Indian delegation to sit through the programme when CPEC is highlighted and may have to walk out,” an Indian scholar attending the BRF meeting told PTI on the condition of anonymity. Indian officials maintain that New Delhi has objections related only to the CPEC traversing through Gilgit and Baltistan of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India treats the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir as its integral part. Staying away from the meet may ‘isolate’ India in the region as all countries in South Asia -- barring Bhutan which doesn't have diplomatic relations with China -- were participating, a top Chinese official in New Delhi had said last week.
He had warned that New Delhi's absence ‘will not be constructive’ for bilateral ties. Playing down India’s absence at the meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had told the media on Friday that Indian scholars would be attending the meeting. Japan, at the receiving end of strong criticism from China in the last few years particularly over the disputed islands in the East China Sea, has also agreed to send a high level political delegationthat includes a vice minister.
