China Thursday slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for criticising its multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) during his just concluded India visit, saying that the diplomat was under a "spell" to constantly blighting the ambitious Chinese project.
The BRI, which is boycotted by India as it comprises the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, has come under constant criticism of the US which say that the massive loans being doled out by Bejing for different projects, specially in smaller countries over and above their capacity to pay, has resulted in long term indebtedness.
At a joint press briefing with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday in New Delhi, Pompeo said, "There are a myriad of opportunities that lay before us in the Indo-Pacific region. Countries...which have signed on to the Belt and Road projects have found Beijing's deals come not with strings attached, but with shackles."
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