Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 15: BJP National Executive Member & J&K chief spokesperson Dr Jitendra Singh said that even as the Congress led UPA government continues to remain undecided about how to deal with China’s intrusionary designs on the Northern borders, latest intelligence reports indicate that Beijing has worked out a definite strategy to revive what is popularly called the “Silk route” or the traditional trade route of Central and South Asia.
In a statement issued here today he said this will amount to trespass of the Northern areas of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir including Gilgit Baltistan presently under illegal occupation of China and Pakistan.
Elaborating, Dr Jitendra Singh said the “silk route” is bounded in the North East by Tibet, further North by Xinjiang province of China, in the North West by the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan, in the West by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and further South by Punjab of Pakistan. This geographic layout is strategically important, also because of its high mountain range, he said and explained, that is why for hundreds of years in the past, Russian, Persian, Chinese, Tibetan and British Indian empires constantly sought access to this region to dominate each other. Even today, this “ancient axis of Asia” provides a gateway for both India and China to Central Asia, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that Beijing has recently allocated huge budget to build infrastructure through highways connecting Tibet to Xinjiang through the Chinese occupied Akshai Chin plateau and Xinjiang to Pakistan via the Karakorum Highway through the Kunzreb pass. This highway then connects Gwadar port on the Arabian sea, giving further access to the Indian Ocean, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, China has deployed more than ten thousand troops for the purpose of developing infrastructure in the area of Gilgit Baltistan which is de facto under its control since Pakistan is reported to have leased it out under the pretext of facilitating development. Curiously, the road construction work by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is going on in clear violation of the agreed freeze on border area work between the two countries but New Delhi continues to remain unconcerned, he alleged.
China is a fast growing economy, looking for easy and inexpensive access to world market and its intrusionary designs are motivated by this larger,long-term design, he added.
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