At the recently concluded second UN Sustainable Transport Conference, India expressed its strong opposition to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its flagship project, the CPEC, where the Indian diplomat’s microphone mysteriously went silent while she was highlighting New Delhi’s opposition to the controversial projects.
The sudden “microphone failure” at the United Nations meeting, which China hosted here from October 14 to 16, caused a flutter and took several minutes to restore.
The video of the next speaker began to play, but was interrupted by UN under-secretary-general Liu Zhenmin, a former Chinese vice foreign minister, who urged the Indian diplomat, Priyanka Sohoni, Second Secretary of the Indian Embassy here, to continue her speech.
“Dear participants, we are sorry,” Liu said after the conference hall’s microphone system was restored. We’re having some technical difficulties, so we’re playing the video of the next speaker. I apologize for that and have asked Sohoni to continue her speech.
“You’re in luck..” “You’re back, and welcome back,” he said to Sohoni, who then went on to finish her speech without interruption.
“We share the international community’s desire to improve physical connectivity and believe that it should provide greater economic benefits to all in a fair and balanced manner,” Sohoni said.
“Physical connectivity expansion and strengthening is an important part of India’s economic and diplomatic initiatives,” she said.
“At this conference, there have been some references to the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI. In this regard, I’d like to point out that we are uniquely impacted by China’s BRI. Its designation of the so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a flagship project “violates India’s sovereignty,” according to Sohoni.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a multibillion-dollar initiative that Chinese President Xi Jinping launched when he took office in 2013. Its goal is to strengthen China’s influence while also connecting Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa, and Europe through a network of land and sea routes.
The BRI’s flagship project is the USD 60 billion CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province.
India has been vocal in its opposition to China’s CPEC, which is being built through Pakistan-controlled Kashmir (PoK). Beijing, for its part, is downplaying India’s concerns, claiming that it is merely an economic initiative that hasn’t changed its principled stance on Kashmir.
Before a few speakers from Sohni, a Pakistani diplomat heaped praises on the BRI and CPEC and called it crucial for the region. At the same time, after the speech of the Indian diplomat, Chinese Transport Minister Li Xiopeng, while responding to the criticism made by Sohni, said, ‘I would like to apologize for the technical glitch when the Indian representative was speaking.’
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