BEIJING: India has voiced its opposition to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its flagship project — CPEC — at the recent second UN Sustainable Transport Conference, where the Indian diplomat’s mic curiously went silent while she was highlighting New Delhi’s objection to controversial projects.
The sudden “mic failure” at the UN meet hosted by Beijing created a flutter and took minutes to restore. Even the video of the next speaker began to play but it was halted by UN under-secretary general Liu Zhenmin, former vice foreign minister of China, who urged Indian diplomat Priyanka Sohoni to continue her speech.
After the system was restored, Liu said, “We are confronting some technical problems and played the video of the next speaker. I’m sorry for that.” Liu asked Sohoni to resume her speech, following which she continued it without interruption.
“We share the international community’s desire for enhancing physical connectivity and believe it should bring greater economic benefits to all in an equitable manner,” Sohoni said.
“There have been some references to the Belt and Road Initiative at this conference. I wish to say that as far as China’s BRI is concerned, we are uniquely affected by it. It’s inclusion of the socalled China Pakistan Economic Corridor as a flagship project impinges on India’s sovereignty,” Sohoni said. “No country can support an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty,” Sohoni said.