India opposes China’s OBOR plan on the grounds of sovereignty: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

Yokohama : India has opposed China’s ambitious program of “One Belt One Road” (OBOR). The Finance Minister of India Mr. Arun Jaitley, has said that India has opposed this program on grounds of sovereignty. He was speaking at the conference organized by the Asian Development Bank in Japan. Muhammad Ishaq Dar, the Finance Minister of Pakistan too was present at the same conference.Some media sources have highlighted that on the grounds of growing tensions between India and Pakistan, the respective finance ministers did not have the customary formal handshake.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) which was formed with support from Japan,conducted its 50^th Annual Meeting at Yokohama in Japan. Given this background, a certain media channel organized a seminar “Asian Economic Outlook: Tracking Trade” which was attended by both India and Pakistan’s finance ministers, Arun Jaitley and Muhammad Ishaq Dar respectively. During this seminar, Mr. Jaitley clearly spoke about India’s stand on China’s OBOR program. He said that on grounds of sovereignty India opposes China’s ambitious OBOR program. But he did not give any further details on the same.

Mr. Jaitley diplomatically remarked that India is positively inclined to increase communication within the regions. But since this program is seen to be connected to India’s sovereignty and many other related issues, India is doubtful about this program. He also mentioned that this was not an appropriate platform for commenting on the subject.The Finance Minister of Pakistan, as expected, offered full support to China’s OBOR program.Pakistan has set high hopes from the OBOR and other such plans as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and feel that these programs would change the conditions in Pakistan.

Under the CPEC program, China is about to invest around 50 million in Pakistan. But experts feel that Pakistan does not have the capacity to accept such a huge investment into its existing financial system. Such a huge influx of funds will not be of any help to them. Chinese experts feel that their success could be under question because of some negative talks and India’s opposition to the OBOR and CPEC programs in China.