China has rejected Indian opposition to the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam in Gilgit-Baltistan, asserting that the economic partnership between China and Pakistan are directed at enhancing development and the welfare of people.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the Diamer-Bhasha dam in Gilgit-Baltistan was mutually-advantageous and win-win for both China and Pakistan. “China and Pakistan conduct the economic cooperation in order to promote economic development and improve the well-being of the local population,” Zhao stated.
The Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a 4,500-megawatt project with a presumed value of $15 billion and would be one of the biggest dams in the world once completed. The Water and Power Development Authority recently announced that the contract of the development of the Diamer-Bhasha dam had been awarded to a joint venture between Power China and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).
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Earlier, as EurAsian Times reported, India had objected to a proposed move by Pakistan and China to build Diamer-Bhasha Dam in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the Gilgit-Baltistan region is part of Jammu and Kashmir that was illegally occupied by Pakistan. “Our position is consistent and clear that the entire territory of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are, and will continue to be an integral and inalienable part of India,” Srivastava said.
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We have consistently communicated our objections and apprehensions with both China and Pakistan on all such projects in the Indian territories. In the past too, New Delhi has sternly opposed projects jointly taken up by Pakistan and China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
