Modi had said the people of Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan had thanked him and that he was grateful to them.
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“The latest concern for Beijing is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the Red Fort in which he referred to the issues like Kashmir (occupied by Pakistan) and Balochistan”, Hu said, according to Firstpost. “I am just wondering whether military involvement could be one of the choice but in my personal view, it is very unlikely”, he said in response to a question on the nature of China’s involvement and maintained that the views are his personal made in the interest of India-China relations.
“The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a new cooperation framework set up by the two countries for the future development of bilateral cooperation across the board”.
“Our relations with China are of the utmost importance”, he said.
Hu Shisheng, a South Asia expert from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, warned that if Delhi is found to be “disrupting the process of CPEC”, it would affect China-India relations as well as India-Pakistan ties.
Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Summit and Expo in Islamabad to enhance awareness about the ambitious project, the Prime Minister termed it a “new concept in diplomacy” and said it would help in elimination of poverty and unemployment. India has strongly opposed the economic corridor as it passes through Gilgit-Baltistan and PoK, which India has claimed sovereignty over. If CPEC is completed not only China and Pakistan but also Afghanistan, India and Iran can benefit a lot. “It is a concern for China”, the expert said. But now Chinese scholars can feel the concern”, Hu said. “My concern is that if India become more hawkish, hostile, it could only create more troubles for Pakistan”, he said.
However, China’s principal concern lies not providing a stable political environment for Pakistani people but protecting it’s $46 billion investment in the region. “It is up to India whether India can resist this kind of temptation”, Hu said.
India’s involvement in the South China Sea dispute was another irritant in the already strained relationship between India and China, Hu added.
“Our problem is with the US”. He said now China has reached out to the country when Pakistan stood economically isolated. He referred to the remarks of the Chinese President that Islamabad stood by Beijing at a time when it was isolated on the world stage and said Pakistan can never forget friendly gestures of China in developing cooperative relationship during hard periods.
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A United Nations court in July rejected China’s claims over the so-called Nine-Dash line – which covers nearly 90 percent of the contested South China Sea – and backed the Philippines which has overlapping claims in the oil and natural gas-rich waters, which are also partly claimed by Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
