India’s Act East, China’s OBOR complement each other: Envoy

New Delhi, November 16

Days ahead of a likely meeting between PM Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping along sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui on Friday batted for ‘One Belt, One Road’ project.

Responding to a question by a delegate at the 1st India-China Youth Dialogue at the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, the envoy stressed that the Modi government’s ‘Act East’ policy and Xi’s ambitious OBOR project complemented each other.

India objects to OBOR on grounds of violation of sovereignty as its flagship project ‘China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’ runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

“OBOR is not just China’s national policy, but has been accepted by almost a 100 nations. It is going quite well,” said Luo, citing consensus arrived upon BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) economic corridor in 2013 as a case of multilateral cooperation moving forward. The Ambassador said China and India had the same policy on connectivity and free trade. Also in AIIB (Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank), India was one of the largest donor and beneficiary countries, he said. — TNS