"Although Indian leader is not here, India will have a representative", Wang had told journalists here on April 17 without specifying who would be representing India.
The likely boycott will leave India in a tight spot as China in the last few days has managed to rope in even the U.S., which on Friday agreed to send a top official after Washington clinched a lucrative trade deal.
Asserting that China-Pakistan relations remain a priority for Beijing, President Xi said that Beijing is willing to enrich the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with Islamabad.
Speaking to an audience that included Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of 29 other countries, Xi outlined the most ambitious political vision yet for the "Belt and Road Initiative", a multibillion-dollar project to build ports, railways and other facilities.
A number of other countries, including South Korea, France, Germany and United Kingdom, have deputed either ministerial or official delegations.
He is leading perhaps the largest delegation - four chief ministers and five federal ministers.
Chinese officials have said previously "Belt and Road" is purely commercial, though Xi's comments indicated Beijing sees that as including a broad array of regulatory and other coordination with potentially far-reaching consequences.
"International freight trains such as China Railway Express and chartered planes have taken products made in Shaanxi and other parts of China to the rest of Eurasia", Wei said, adding that the number of trains carrying products such as wheat and frozen food back to China is also rising.
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Sri Lanka has over U.S. $8 billion Chinese investments.
The prime minister will also attend leaders' roundtable sessions scheduled to be held on the second day of the forum. Bangladesh and the Maldives will also have official representations.
The CPEC has emerged as a thorny issue between India and China whose ties have been under severe strain over issues ranging from Beijing blocking New Delhi's bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group and its appeal to get an worldwide ban on Pakistani militant Masood Azhar.
China in turn protested after India last month let Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visit Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims.
"Guided by our principled position in the matter, we have been urging China to engage in a meaningful dialogue on its connectivity initiative", said foreign ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay in a strongly worded statement released late Saturday.
It's reported that a part of the project passes through the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Ning said he dose not think China's current control over capital outflows will impact the projects under the initiative.
Two cooperation agreements worth 2.3 billion yuan for an airport in the southwestern town of Gwadar, site of a deep-water port that is to provide an outlet to the Arabian Sea from the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang.
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