China has reiterated its territorial claim over the Shaksgam Valley, pushing back against India’s strong objections to Beijing’s infrastructure activities in the region and asserting that the projects are being carried out on what it considers its own territory.
The response from Beijing came days after India criticised China’s development work in the Shaksgam Valley, maintaining that the area is part of Indian territory and warning that New Delhi reserves the right to take necessary steps to protect its interests.
India has consistently held that Pakistan illegally transferred 5,180 square kilometres of Indian territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China under a 1963 agreement, at a time when the region was under Pakistan’s unlawful occupation.
“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 on Friday.
Reiterating India’s position, Jaiswal said, “Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory,” adding that New Delhi also does not recognise the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through areas of Indian territory under what India describes as Pakistan’s forcible and illegal occupation.
“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,” the MEA spokesperson said.
Reacting to these remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning defended Beijing’s stance during a media briefing on Monday. “The territory you mentioned belongs to China,” she said, asserting that China’s actions in the region are legitimate.
“It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory,” Mao said, adding that China and Pakistan had signed a boundary agreement in the 1960s to delimit their border. “This is the right of China and Pakistan as sovereign countries,” she stated.
China has repeatedly maintained a long-standing position on the Kashmir issue, describing it as a historical dispute that should be resolved peacefully. According to Beijing, “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 latest exchange underscores continuing tensions between India and China over territorial claims in the region, even as New Delhi continues to firmly reject any arrangements or projects it says infringe upon its sovereignty.
