PM Modi only world statesman to stand up to China on BRI: Pillsbury

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is getting stronger globally with each passing day, despite opposition at home. Modi seems to have successfully convinced the global community that 'Ache Din' has indeed come for India.

American scholar Michael Pillsbury vindicated India on One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBOR) against China, saying the only statesman in the world who stood up to it yet, is Prime Minister Modi.

"He and his team have been quite outspoken, partly because the Belt and Road Initiative includes violation of Indian sovereign claims," Michael Pillsbury said.

During a Congressional hearing, Michael Pillsbury, Director of Center on Chinese Strategy at the prestigious think-tank Hudson Institute, told lawmakers that PM Modi and his team have been quite outspoken against Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious project.

"The only statesman in the world who stood up to it yet is Prime Minister Modi. He and his team have been quite outspoken, partly because the Belt and Road Initiative includes violation of Indian sovereign claims," Pillsbury said.

"But the US government, until now and this is a five-year-old initiative if you count the early part of it, has been silent," he said.

Praising the Trump administration for its new Indo-Pacific strategy, the former Pentagon official said in recent days people have heard more than 50 times by members of the Trump administration including the president himself mentioning a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region.

"The Chinese have already attacked this. They don't like it," said Mr. Pillsbury, who is considered an authority on China-related issues.

"The Indians, fairly recently, were joking about we want to make the Indian Ocean the Indian Ocean, by which they meant the purchase of several billion dollars worth of American PA aircraft, which have weapon systems in the back that can sink ships, frankly, and other improvements including maritime situational awareness and a big new center in Delhi where the Indians can keep track of both blue holes and grey holes going through the Indian Ocean," he said.

"The Chinese are very angry about this. They have criticised the Obama administration for its effort to, as they say, boost India, to a higher rank order in comprehensive power than the Chinese believe India deserves," the top American expert on China said in response to a question.

Senator Ed Markey said China's signature Belt and Road Initiative that aims to position China as the uncontested leading power in Asia "may further coerce" and bully its neighbours through loans they cannot repay.

The Belt and Road Initiative aimed at building a vast network of infrastructure projects expanding China's expertise and capital to different parts of the world includes $50 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC over which India has protested as it passes through Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir or PoK.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only world statesman to have stood up to China and their Belt and Road Initiative, even though the US has been silent on the ambitious project till recently, a top American expert on China said today.

During a Congressional hearing, Michael Pillsbury, Director of Center on Chinese Strategy at the prestigious think-tank Hudson Institute, told lawmakers that PM Modi and his team have been quite outspoken against Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious project.

"The only statesman in the world who stood up to it yet is Prime Minister Modi. He and his team have been quite outspoken, partly because the Belt and Road Initiative includes violation of Indian sovereign claims," Mr Pillsbury said.

"But the US government, until now and this is a five-year-old initiative if you count the early part of it, has been silent," he said.

Praising the Trump administration for its new Indo-Pacific strategy, the former Pentagon official said in recent days people have heard more than 50 times by members of the Trump administration including the president himself mentioning a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region.

"The Chinese have already attacked this. They don't like it," said Pillsbury, who is considered an authority on China-related issues.

"The Indians, fairly recently, were joking about we want to make the Indian Ocean the Indian Ocean, by which they meant the purchase of several billion dollars worth of American PA aircraft, which have weapon systems in the back that can sink ships, frankly, and other improvements including maritime situational awareness and a big new center in Delhi where the Indians can keep track of both blue holes and grey holes going through the Indian Ocean," he said.

"The Chinese are very angry about this. They have criticised the Obama administration for its effort to, as they say, boost India, to a higher rank order in comprehensive power than the Chinese believe India deserves," the top American expert on China said in response to a question.

Senator Ed Markey said China's signature Belt and Road Initiative that aims to position China as the uncontested leading power in Asia "may further coerce" and bully its neighbours through loans they cannot repay.

PTI