US says CPEC passes through disputed territory

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has informed Congress that it too believes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through a disputed territory -- originally an India claim aimed at thwarting the multibillion-dollar plan which connects China to Arabian sea.

The $56 billion CPEC passes through Gilgit-Baltistan which Pakistan calls its northern areas and India claims it to be part of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir territory.

"The One Belt, One Road also goes through disputed territory, and I think that in itself shows the vulnerability of trying to establish that sort of a dictate," US Defence Secretary James Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Secretary Mattis and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Joseph Dunford appeared before the Senate and House armed services panel earlier this week to brief US lawmakers on the current situation in the Pak-Afghan region.

Secretary Mattis said the US opposed the One Belt, One Road policy in principle because in a globalised world, there were many belts and many roads, and no one nation should put itself into a position of dictating One Belt, One Road. He also emphasized the reason US opposes the ongoing work in Pakistan is because it passes through disputed territory.  

The new US position on CPEC will further strain already tense relations between the US and Pakistan, which also opposed the greater role Washington has assigned to India in Afghanistan in a strategy President Trump announced on Aug 21.

"As far as Afghanistan goes, as we try to separate out variables where, in some areas, we work with China, for example, terrorism -- I think there are areas where we can work -- find common ground with China when it comes to counterterrorism, and we should exercise those areas pretty fully," said the US defence chief.

"But we should be under no illusions," he warned. "There are areas where, also, strategically, we need to confront China where we think it's unproductive -- the direction they're going in."

China rejects US objections over CPEC

Meanwhile,  China has rejected the objections raised by the US over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) saying that its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative was backed by the UN.

"We have repeatedly reiterated that CPEC is an economic cooperation initiative that is not directed against third parties and has nothing to do with territorial sovereignty disputes and does not affect China's principled stance on the Kashmir issue," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It added that over 70 countries and international organisations which had signed cooperation agreements with China on OBOR, including the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, have incorporated it in their important resolutions.

Meanwhile Pakistan also rejected US objections on China's 'One Belt, One Road', in which CPEC is flagship project.

In response to US Defence Secretary James Mattis reservations over China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Parliamentary Committee, in a series of tweets said, "US officially participated in 'One Belt, One Road' Summit in Beijing in May 2017 with delegation led by Special Assistant to President Donald Trump, now US Defence Secretary suddenly opposing it."

He also noted that following the 1960  Indus Water Treaty, US contractors had built Mangla Dam in Pakistani side of Kashmir. Why was there no reference to a "disputed territory" back then, he asked.