New Delhi: On the first day of the existence of the two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, China described the action as “unlawful and void”, prompting India to remind Beijing that it had “illegally acquired Indian territories” from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.China had previously ticked off India when the Indian government began the process of removing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August, which led India to describe it as an internal matter.With China again protesting the creation of Ladakh as a separate union territory, India has also elevated its response by referring to Beijing’s possession of Aksai Chin.Also read: Xi to Pakistan: Support Your Legitimate Rights; India to China: Don’t Comment on KashmirDuring the weekly briefing in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that Indian government had “officially announced the establishment of so-called Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh union territories that included some of China’s administrative jurisdiction”.He added, “China deplores and firmly opposes that India unilaterally changed its domestic laws and administrative division challenging China’s sovereignty”.Geng stated that India’s action “is unlawful and void and this is not effective in any way and will not change the fact that the area is under Chinese actual control”.Also read: Kashmir: China Asks for UNSC Meeting After Pakistan Letter on the IssueChina, he stated, has urged India to “earnestly respect Chinese territorial sovereignty, abide by our treaties and uphold peace and tranquillity in the border areas and create favourable conditions for proper settlement of boundary question”.The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson reiterated Beijing’s position that Kashmir dispute is left over from history and should be resolved as per UNSC resolutions, UN charger and other bilateral treaties.China had supported Pakistan’s bid for United Nations Security Council to take up Kashmir after Indian parliament nullified Article 370 and bifurcated the state. UNSC had discussed the matter for the first time in over 20 years, but it was at an unrecorded, closed door meeting.Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India for the second informal summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, Indian officials “categorically” stated that there was no discussion on the Kashmir developments.Also read: Modi and Shah Forget that Kashmir is No Tibet, India is No ChinaJust ahead of the India visit, Xi Jinping had hosted the Pakistan Prime minister Imran Khan on October 9. The joint statement had reiterated the Chinese position backing Pakistan’s insistence that Kashmir had to be resolved as per UNSC resolutions.A few hours after the Chinese briefing, India’s ministry of external affairs responded in New Delhi that the “matter of the reorganisation of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is entirely an internal affair of India”.MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that India does not expect China to comment on internal matters, “just as India refrains from commenting on internal issues of other countries”. So far, India has never commented on the recent Hong Kong protests or the state of Uighurs in Xinjiang.Kumar said that the two union territories are an integral part of India and that it expects other countries to “respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.He then pointed a finger at China for illegally occupying Indian territory. “China continues to be in occupation of a large tract of area in the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. It has also illegally acquired Indian territories from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963,” said Kumar.Also read: Stalled China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Projects will be RevivedThe Indian spokesperson reminded that New Delhi had also protested on the projects in the “so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor” (CPEC) as those were on “territory that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947”.On the boundary dispute, Kumar said that India and China had agreed to seek a “fair, reasonable and mutually accepted solution to the issue through peaceful consultations on the basis of the political parameters and guiding principles that were agreed in 2005”.This was also reiterated during the second informal summit on October 12. “In the interim, the two sides have also agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border area,” he added.
