Indian diplomat's mike goes silent at UN conference while criticising China's BRI

October 20, 2021 17:08

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India has voiced its strong opposition to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its flagship project - the CPEC - at the just concluded second UN Sustainable Transport Conference.

Curiously, the Indian diplomat's mike went silent while she was highlighting New Delhi's objection to the controversial projects.

The sudden "mike failure" at the UN meet hosted by China in Beijing from October 14 to 16 created a flutter and took several minutes to restore.

The video of the next speaker began to play but it was halted by UN under-secretary-general Liu Zhenmin, the former vice foreign minister of China, who urged the Indian diplomat, Priyanka Sohoni, Second Secretary of the Indian Embassy, to continue her speech.

After the mike system was restored at the conference hall, Liu said, "dear participants, we are sorry. We are confronting some technical problems and played the video of the next speaker. I am sorry for that and asked Sohoni to resume her speech. You are lucky.., You are back and welcome back," he told Sohoni.

Following this, the Indian diplomat continued her speech without interruption.

"We share the international community's desire for enhancing physical connectivity and believe it should bring greater economic benefits to all in an equitable and balanced manner," Sohoni said. "Expansion and strengthening of physical connectivity is an integral part of India's economic and diplomatic initiatives, she said.

"There have been some references to the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI at this conference. Here, I wish to say that as far as China's BRI is concerned, we are uniquely affected by it. It's inclusion of the so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a flagship project impinges on India's sovereignty, Sohoni said.

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