Beijing hosts plenary sessions of the second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference from 14 to 16 October. Being a member of the conference, India sends its representative Priyanka Sohoni, Second Secretary of the Indian Embassy to the conference. Her microphone went silent suddenly when Priyanka Sohoni addressed at a conference in Beijing. The sudden "mike failure" at the UN meet hosted by China here from October 14 to 16 created a flutter and took several minutes to restore. The reason is an open secret. Belt and Road Initiative Project (BRI) aims to strengthen Beijing’s trade influence across the world with a network of land and sea routes.
India has opposed China’s BRI right from the beginning and has not joined in BRI because it does not offer a level playing ground to the country’s businesses. Indian has opposed BRI which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. BRI or the “One Belt, One Road” is the brainchild of President Xi Jinping’s flagship program for trade and connectivity. New Delhi’s trade concerns related to Beijing were a key factor behind India’s decision. Even before Priyanka Sohoni’s mike was fixed, the video of the next speaker began to play. The video was halted by the UN under-secretary-general, Liu Zhenmin who was a former minister of China apologized for causing the inconvenience to Indian diplomats. He made a statement that because of technical problems it happened.
The controversy began when Pakistan diplomats praised the BRI project. He quoted that the BRI project becomes a game-changer in development for the region. Pakistan diplomat speech prompted India to give a strong response on the BRI issue. India said that so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the project that impinges on Indian sovereignty. China’s Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng rebutted India’s remarks on the project and defended that BRI is for the development of all countries that connected land and sea routes. China’s response to Indian diplomats may constitute a breach of UN Protocol. As per the protocol, any serving nation refrains from responding to remarks of foreign diplomats at UN conferences.
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