WASHINGTON: The Trump administration today threw its weight behind India’s opposition to China’s ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, saying the USD 50 billion project passes through “disputed territory” and no country should dictate the Belt and Road initiative.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), over which India has conveyed its protests to China. The area covers Karakoram mountain ranges, including the Siachen glacier.
“In a globalised world, there are many belts and many roads, and no one nation should put itself into a position of dictating ‘one belt, one road’,” US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing.
“That said, the One Belt One Road (OBOR) also goes through disputed territory, and I think, that in itself shows the vulnerability of trying to establish that sort of a dictate,” Mattis said apparently referring to India’s position on CPEC.
Mattis was responding to a question from Senator Charles Peters over OBOR and China’s policy. (AGENCIES)
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