India rejected any unwarranted references to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that were made in a China-Pakistan joint statement during Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We’ve noted that the joint statement released following the visit of Pakistan PM to China contained several unwarranted references to Indian Union Territory of J&K. Union territory of J-K and of Ladakh are and always will be integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.
During the two-day visit to China, the Pakistan PM held a meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and focussed on expanding cooperation on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
On CPEC, Bagchi said, “We’ve consistently conveyed our protests and concerns to China and Pakistan. CPEC includes projects from the sovereign territory of India that is under forcible and illegal external occupation,” he said.
“We resolutely reject any attempts to utilise such projects to change status-quo in the area, any attempts to involve third parties in such activities are inherently illegal, illegitimate and unacceptable and will be treated as such by us,” he added.
The two leaders discussed the broad-based cooperation in the economy and investment in all areas of bilateral relations, especially CPEC projects and agreed to further strengthen the strategic partnership.