The Congress on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "soft on China" because industrialist Gautam Adani was linked to a company owned by a Chinese national that is involved in several key projects in India.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “The company’s name is PMC Infrastructure Ltd. It is owned by a Chinese national but it handles Adani’s infrastructure projects in several countries, including India. The ties are so deep that the company operates from Adani’s address. PMC is owned by Chang Chien-Ting, who is the son of Chang Chung-Ling, a director in several Adani firms and a close associate of (Gautam Adani's brother) Vinod Adani.”
Rahul Gandhi also tweeted about the purported ties, saying: “PMC Projects — Pradhan Mantri Chinese Projects? Why are India’s critical ports, airstrips, railway tracks and electricity lines being built & controlled by a Chinese company?”
Shrinate gave the names of the Indian projects PMC was purportedly engaged in: Mundra Port, Dahej Port, Kandla Port, Hazira Port (all in Gujarat); Mormugao Port (Goa); Vishakhapatnam Port (Andhra Pradesh); Electricity Transmission Project (Maharashtra); Road Infrastructure, Mundra; and Railway Infrastructure, Mundra. "There is nothing that Adani hasn't involved PMC in,” the Congress spokesperson said.
Showing several photographs of Adani with the Chinese businessman, Shrinate said: “Not only is the address same, even the email ID of the Adani group was used by this company. China killed 20 of our soldiers (in the Galwan Valley clash), has prevented patrolling by the Indian Army in points where we traditionally went. They forced us to create buffer zones inside our territory. They changed the names of places in Arunachal Pradesh. But Modi is so soft on China that he is increasing trade with that country. Then, Adani is allowed to invite a Chinese firm to work in critical sectors. Isn’t this not playing with national security? This is absolutely anti-national.”
The Congress spokesperson said the Chinese company used Adani’s domain name even in its annual returns. “Now we understand why the Prime Minister gave a clean chit to China, saying nobody has entered (Indian territory forcibly). Now we understand why they fear secrets getting unravelled. But the truth is coming out. The Prime Minister is silent because he wanted to save both Adani and China. Why did you meet Chinese authorities 18 times? What was the talk about? You fool people by banning some silly apps,” Shrinate said.
Congress communications department member Amitabh Dubey, who worked on the 100 questions the party asked on Adani, said PMC had been mentioned by the Enforcement Directorate and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in two scams but the matter was inexplicably put on the back burner.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh had earlier said: “A Chinese national, Chang Chung-Ling, has been a director in several Adani group companies along with Vinod Adani and has also made an appearance in the Panama Papers. In December 2017, South Korea seized the Panama-registered oil tanker Koti for transferring petroleum products to a North Korean tanker in violation of UN sanctions.”
Ramesh had added: “It emerged that the Koti, which South Korea subsequently scrapped, was owned by Chang Chung-Ling’s sons Chien-Ting Chang and Chien-Huan Chang. The Koti and the Koti Corporation are both on UN and US sanction lists. There are deeper links with the Adani group: Chien-Ting Chang is also known to be an owner of PMC Projects that helped construct Mundra and other Adani group ports. What is Chang Chung-Ling’s exact relationship with the Adani family?"