China on Monday reaffirmed its territorial claims over Jammu and Kashmir Shaksgam Valley and defended its infrastructure projects in the region, rejecting India’s objections and insisting the construction is “beyond reproach”.Responding to India’s objections last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the area belongs to China and that Beijing is well within its rights to carry out development activities there.
“The territory you mentioned belongs to China,” Mao told reporters. “It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory. China and Pakistan in the 1960s signed a boundary agreement and delimited the boundary between the two countries, which is the right of China and Pakistan as sovereign countries,” she said.India, however, has firmly rejected China’s claims and the legality of the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement under which Pakistan ceded around 5,180 sq km of territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China from areas under its illegal occupation. New Delhi maintains that the region is part of Indian territory.“Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan ‘boundary agreement’ signed in 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said on Friday.He further said the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are “an integral and inalienable part of India”, adding that this stance has been “clearly conveyed to Pakistani and Chinese authorities several times”.China, however, rejected India’s objections to CPEC as well, reiterating its long-held position that the project is an economic cooperation initiative. Mao said the corridor is aimed at promoting local socio-economic development and improving people’s livelihoods.“The China-Pakistan boundary agreement and CPEC do not affect China’s position on the Kashmir issue and the position remains unchanged,” she said, adding that Beijing believes the “Jammu and Kashmir dispute is left over from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved in accordance with the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements”.The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multi-billion-dollar network of roads, railways and energy projects linking China’s Xinjiang region to Pakistan’s Gwadar port. India opposes it because key segments pass through Indian territory.
