Respect territorial integrity: PM Modi at first SCO Summit after LAC tensions

New Delhi: In a message to China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the SCO summit on Tuesday said there should be respect for each others’ sovereignty and territorial integrity. Modi’s remark at a virtual summit of SCO came in the backdrop of the tension with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

“India believes that to enhance connectivity it is important that we move forward while respecting one another’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” PM Modi said.

In an oblique message to Pakistan, Modi raised concerns over attempts by some nations to bring in bilateral issues into the agenda of the eight-nation regional grouping that primarily focuses on security and defence issues. SCO technically bars discussion on any bilateral issues.

“There is an effort to bring in bilateral issues into the SCO agenda. That is against the spirit of the charter of the SCO. India has always been resolute in working in sync with principles laid out in the SCO charter,” PM Modi said at a virtual summit of the SCO, where his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan and Chinese President Xi Jinping were in attendance.

The comments on territorial integrity are also significant as China is backing a massive 3,000-kmlong infrastructure project, the so called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC, which connects Kashgar in western China with Gwadar port in Pakistan and passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir or PoK.

India has right from the start protested China’s CPEC push as the corridor passes through PoK. Referring to the Covid-19 pandemic, Modi said India will use its capacity in production and distribution of vaccines to help the entire humanity in fighting the pandemic.

“In this difficult time of unprecedented epidemic, India’s pharma industry sent essential medicines to over 150 nations,” he said . “India strongly believes that a combination of economic multilateralism and national capacity building can help the countries including in the SCO region recover from the economic losses caused by the pandemic,” Modi said. SCO was the first of the six summits that the PM will address this month through virtual medium.