China lays claim to Kashmir’s Shaksgam Valley, says infrastructure construction justified

China on Monday rejected India’s claim over the Shaksgam Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the territory belongs to Beijing and that infrastructure construction there is justified.

Responding to questions on border issues and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, “The territory you mentioned belongs to China. It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory.”

Mao said China and Pakistan had signed a boundary agreement in the 1960s and demarcated their borders, calling the settlement an exercise of the rights of two sovereign states.

According to a report in the Global Times, Mao further said the CPEC is an economic cooperation project aimed at promoting local economic and social development and improving people’s livelihoods. She added that the border agreement between China and Pakistan, as well as the CPEC, do not affect China’s position on the Kashmir issue, asserting that Beijing’s stance remains unchanged.

The Shaksgam Valley borders China’s Xinjiang province to the north, Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) to the south and west, and the Siachen Glacier region to the east.

Earlier on January 9, India firmly rejected China’s infrastructure activities in the Shaksgam Valley under the CPEC, terming them “illegal and invalid” and reiterating that the region is an “integral and inalienable part” of India.

Addressing a weekly media briefing, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India has never recognised the “so-called” China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963 or the “so-called” CPEC.

“Shaksgam Valley is an Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid. We do not recognise the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor either, which passes through Indian territory under the forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan,” Jaiswal said.

He reiterated that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India, adding that New Delhi has consistently protested to the Chinese side over attempts to alter the ground reality in the Shaksgam Valley.

“We further reserve the right to take necessary measures to safeguard our interests,” the MEA spokesperson said.

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