BEIJING: China on Monday reaffirmed its territorial claims over the Shaksgam Valley in the backdrop of India's objections, stressing that the Chinese infrastructure projects in the area are "beyond reproach".
India last Friday criticised China's infrastructure development projects in the Shaksgam Valley, saying it reserves the right to take necessary measures to safeguard its interests as it is an Indian territory.
Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China in 1963 from areas illegally occupied by it.
"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 said.
“We also do not recognise the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which passes through Indian territory that is under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan,” he said.
Jaiswal said that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. "This has been clearly conveyed to Pakistani and Chinese authorities several times," he added.
Reacting to Jaiswal's comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing here that “the territory you mentioned belongs to China”.
"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.
On India's criticism of the CPEC, Mao repeated Beijing's narrative that it is an economic cooperation initiative, aimed at promoting local socioeconomic development and improving people’s livelihood.
"The China-Pakistan boundary agreement and CPEC do not affect China’s position on the Kashmir issue and the position remains unchanged," she said.
China’s official stand on the Kashmir issue, as often reiterated by Beijing, is that “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 1963 agreement ceding the territory of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) was crucial for Pakistan and China as it provided a common boundary for them, which otherwise would have had no borders.
The agreement also has a clause that stipulates that after the settlement of Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority will reopen negotiations with the government of China to sign a formal boundary treaty.