In a joint statement with Pakistan, China on Sunday said that it opposes “any unilateral actions that complicate the situation” in Kashmir.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Beijing from February 3 to February 6 to attend the opening ceremony of Winter Olympics 2022. During the visit, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
The joint statement noted that Pakistan briefed China on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, including its concerns on the subject. “The Chinese side reiterated that the Kashmir issue was a dispute left from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements,” the statement read.
Both China and Pakistan said that a “peaceful and prosperous South Asia is in the common interest of all parties”.
“They emphasised the importance of pursuit of dialogue and resolution of all outstanding disputes to promote regional cooperation and advance the goals of lasting peace, stability and shared prosperity in the region,” according to the statement.
Khan said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor has significantly contributed to Pakistan’s economic and social development. On Friday, the two countries signed a Framework Agreement on Industrial Cooperation as part of the CPEC.
China and Pakistan also referred to the Gwadar Port as a “central pillar of CPEC and important node in regional connectivity”.
Khan, in a separate statement, alleged that “atrocities” were being perpetrated in Jammu and Kashmir and minorities were being persecuted in India “in advancing the Hindutva mindset” of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party.
He said that this, along with the “rapid militarisation of India”, was a threat to regional stability.
India has consistently held that the whole of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, and opposed any outside interference in the region.
On February 5, 2020, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan had told the Lok Sabha that the CPEC is illegal as it “passes through parts of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh which are under illegal occupation of Pakistan”.
“Government has conveyed its concerns to the Chinese side about their activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and has asked them to cease such activities,” Muraleedharan had said.
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