India opposes expansion of CPEC to Afghanistan

India on Thursday firmly objected to any attempt to expand the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) into Afghanistan, saying that such a move would be “unacceptable.”

India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh made the government’s position clear in a statement to parliament. He said the government is aware of the recent China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral meeting held in Beijing on May 21, where the expansion of regional cooperation, including infrastructure connectivity, was discussed.

“Government has consistently protested to parties concerned over the inclusion of the so-called ‘China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through parts of the Indian Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir under illegal occupation of Pakistan, as a flagship project of ‘OBOR/BRI’ and asked them to cease these activities,” he said.

“Any proposed participation of third countries or expansion of the so-called CPEC projects to third countries is unacceptable. Government has consistently conveyed this position to relevant parties,” he added.

CPEC is a central part of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which Beijing has pledged over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, much of it in the form of loans.

At the Beijing meeting in May, foreign ministers from China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan expressed their intent to deepen trilateral cooperation, including economic integration and connectivity. China has voiced interest in extending CPEC into Afghanistan as part of broader reconstruction and development efforts in the war-torn country.