China always puts Pakistan first is not true: Luo Zhaohui

China’s ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui called on India to join One-Belt-One-Road project assuring his neighbor that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would not impinge on anyone’s sovereign rights. In his attempt to lure India, he also offered to change the name of the CPEC but later the official website of the embassy deleted the sentence believably to evade embarrassment.
The text of Mr. Luo’s remarks made to an Indian think-tank on 5th May at the United Services Institute said: Some people in the West misread China and tend to think that the `Dragon` and the `Elephant` are inevitable rivals, and that China would not like to see India developing. This conception is wrong. We hope to see India develop well and we are more than happy to help India develop to achieve common development.
Both the countries needed to properly manage their differences. As two large neighbors, it is natural that we have some differences. Even family members may have problems. There was a need to set a long-term vision for China-India relations,
he said suggesting they should:
First, start negotiations on a China-India `treaty of good neighborliness and friendly cooperation`.
Then restart negotiation on China India free trade agreement.
Third, strive for an early harvest on the border issue.
Fourth, actively explore the feasibility of aligning China’s `One-Belt-One-Road Initiative` (OBOR) and India’s `Act East Policy`.
The OBOR, he says is a major public product China has offered to the world. As close neighbors, China and India could be natural partners in connectivity and the OBOR. `Now the GDP of India is roughly that of China in 2004, some 13 years ago. China leads India by 13 years, mainly because we started reform and opening up 13 years earlier,
Mr. Luo said., India still has reservations over the OBOR, saying that the CPEC passes through Azad Jammu & Kashmir, raising sovereignty concerns. ’China has no intention to get involved in the sovereignty and territorial disputes between India and Pakistan. China supports the solution of the disputes through bilateral negotiations between the two countries. The CPEC is for promoting economic cooperation and connectivity. It has no connections to or impact on sovereignty issues, the envoy said. The perception that China was partial to Pakistan over others was erroneous. `Some Indian media say that China always puts Pakistan first when handling its relations with South Asia countries. I want to tell you this is not true. Simply said, we always put China first and we deal with problems based on their own merits. Take Kashmir issue for example, we supported the relevant UN resolutions before 1990s. Then we supported a settlement through bilateral negotiation in line with the Simla Agreement. This is an example of China taking care of India’s concern. On promoting India-Pakistan reconciliation, China hopes that both sides could live together in peace. `The development of China, India, Pakistan and the stability of the whole region call for a stable and friendly environment. Otherwise, how could we open up and develop? That’s why we say we are willing to mediate when India and Pakistan have problems. But the precondition is that both India and Pakistan accept it. We do this only out of goodwili.