China trying to revive 'Silk Route', says BJP

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday alleged that even as Congress-led UPA government remained undecided about how to deal with China's "intrusive" designs on the northern borders, latest intelligence reports indicate that Beijing has worked out a "definite strategy" to revive the traditional trade route of central and south Asia, popularly known as the 'Silk Route'.

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday alleged that even as Congress-led UPA government remained undecided about how to deal with China's "intrusive" designs on the northern borders, latest intelligence reports indicate that Beijing has worked out a "definite strategy" to revive the traditional trade route of central and south Asia, popularly known as the 'Silk Route'.

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"This will amount to trespass of the northern areas of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit-Baltistan, presently under illegal occupation of China and Pakistan," warned party spokesman Jitendra Singh.

He disclosed that Beijing had recently allocated a "huge" budget to build infrastructure through highways connecting Tibet to Xinjiang through the Chinese occupied Aksai Chin plateau and Xinjiang to Pakistan via the Karakorum highway through the Kunzreb pass. This highway then connects with Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, giving access to the Indian Ocean.

"China has deployed more than 10,000 troops for the purpose of developing infrastructure in the Gilgit-Baltistan area, which is effectively under its control, since Pakistan is reported to have leased it out on the pretext of facilitating development. Curiously, the road construction work by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is going on in clear violation of the agreed freeze on border area work between the two countries, but New Delhi continues to remain unconcerned," he alleged.