China eyes bigger role in South Asian bloc
November 27, 2014, 5:36 am

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif walks past Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the opening session of the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit at City Hall in Kathmandu, Nepal, Nov. 26, 2014 [Xinhua]

This year’s SAARC Summit host Nepal and Pakistan have been lobbying to give China a bigger role in the SAARC group than its current observer status.

Greater engagement between China and SAARC will take place in the coming years, said China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, head of a delegation to Nepal attending the 18th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

“China has put forward a series of initiatives ,(including) increasing trade between South Asia and China to $150 billion and investment to $30 billion in the next five years,” he said in Nepal.

“We are offering South Asian countries with 30 billion US dollars in construction of roads, offering 10,000 scholarships, 5, 000 training opportunities and exchange programs for 5,000 youths and sending off 5,000 Chinese language teachers in South Asian countries in the next 5 years,” he added.

China will implement the China-South Asia partnership initiatives in science and technology, he said, adding “We look forward to SAARC countries’ active participation in these cooperation programs and we believe they will enrich China-SAARC cooperation.”

Renewed hostilities between neighbours India and Pakistan have threatened hopes of any trade agreements being signed by the group at the Summit this year.

The 8 SAARC nations had signed a free trade pact in 2006 but trade among the group is struggling to grow beyond 5 per cent of their total trade.

Meanwhile, China is stepping up regional integration projects in Asia including launching a massive Silk Road Economic Belt, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the establishment of a $40 billion fund for infrastructure projects for the Silk Road project.

China has been an observer of SAARC since 2006 and has pledged to increase engagement with the bloc. Eight others including the European Union, the US and Australia are also observers.

Aiming to become a European Union style bloc, SAARC was formed in 1985 in Bangladesh, and groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

TBP and Agencies