 India to boycott China summit amid Kashmir concerns New Delhi (AFP) May 13, 2017 - India signalled it will boycott a summit in Beijing on Sunday on boosting China's trade links to the rest of the world, setting off a new dispute between the neighbours. The two-day summit is expected to be attended by Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and 26 other leaders. Without announcing a formal boycott, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman highlighted concerns about China's so-called One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, a massive undertaking to link the country with Africa, Asia and Europe through a network of ports, railways, roads and industrial zones. The spokesman also reaffirmed India's opposition to a Chinese-Pakistani economic corridor that runs through disputed Kashmir. "Guided by our principled position in the matter, we have been urging China to engage in a meaningful dialogue on its connectivity initiative," said foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay in a strongly worded statement released late Saturday. "We are awaiting a positive response from the Chinese side," Baglay added. "Regarding the so-called 'China-Pakistan Economic Corridor', which is being projected as the flagship project of the... OBOR, the international community is well aware of India's position. "No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through Gilgit and Baltistan in Pakistan Kashmir, which is claimed by India. The two sides have been at loggerheads over Kashmir since their division in 1947. India's is also concerned because the 3,000 kilometre (1,850 mile) corridor ends in the strategic Pakistani port of Gwadar. India fears the port could become a Chinese naval base facing its navy in Mumbai. India have had a series of niggles over the past year. China has opposed India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the club of countries sensitive nuclear technology, and UN action against a Pakistan-based militant leader, Masood Azhar. China in turn protested after India last month let Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visit Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims. The foreign ministry spokesman said India had been "formally" invited to the Beijing summit. But he said India believes that "connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality." There have to be "principles of financial responsibility to avoid projects that would create unsustainable debt burden for communities". India insists that "connectivity projects must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesman said. Chinese officials had earlier said they expected India to send an official delegation to the summit.
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The Philippines and China will open bilateral talks on their dispute over the South China Sea next week, Manila's ambassador to Beijing said on Saturday.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to deepen relations with China despite its extensive island-building in disputed parts of the South China Sea, in the hopes of securing billions of dollars' worth of investments from Beijing.
"We will inaugurate the bilateral consultative mechanism on issues of particular concern to each side. This is where the sensitive issues will be discussed," Ambassador Jose "Chito" Santa Romana said in Beijing in comments aired by ABS-CBN television.
Santa Romana made the comments ahead of Duterte's arrival in Beijing to attend the One Belt, One Road summit on Sunday and Monday -- a pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"The first session will be next week but this will be a session that will continue on a twice-yearly basis, a chance to exchange views on the South China Sea issue," he said.
China claims nearly all of the strategically vital waterway, despite partial counter-claims from several regional states including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.
During a stopover in Hong Kong on the way to Beijing Saturday, Duterte himself emphasised the importance of economic ties with China in a meeting with members of the Filipino community.
"China in all good faith wants to help us. And they are not asking for anything, no conditions. They just want to help. They have so much money," he told the gathering of around 1,000 people at a city hotel.
"I am on friendly terms with China. I am friends with Xi Jinping," he said, adding that China would import fruit from the Philippines and invest in building bridges across Manila's main river.
Santa Romana said the Duterte administration was putting the South China Sea dispute on a separate track while pursuing economic and diplomatic relations with China, adding that previously bilateral ties had been "frozen" because the territorial row had taken centre stage.
"To put it on a separate track is not to abandon or give up but rather to compartmentalise it," he said.
Duterte has sought closer ties with China and Russia while distancing the Philippines from its traditional ally, the United States.
Last month, he alarmed observers when he issued a chairman's statement, after hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, which took a soft stance towards Chinese actions in the South China Sea.
The statement merely took note of "concerns expressed by some leaders over recent developments in the area".
It also ignored an international tribunal ruling last year which said China's claims to most of the sea were unlawful.
Leaders from nearly 30 nations are attending next week's forum in Beijing, which will showcase Xi's grand plan to revive ancient Silk Road trade routes by bankrolling rail, maritime and road projects across Asia, Europe and Africa.
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