BEIJING: China has never recognized the so-called union territory of Ladakh set up unilaterally and illegally by India, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said that India’s domestic judicial ruling does not change the fact that the western section of the China-India border has always belonged to China.
The spokesperson strongly rejected the Indian Supreme Court’s ruling endorsing India’s Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
On December 11, the Supreme Court of India announced a judgment upholding the validity of the order abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution, asking the Indian government to restore the statehood in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir at the earliest, and upholding the validity of the decision of the Indian government in 2019 to carve out the so-called union territory of Ladakh.
While strongly criticizing the Indian supreme court’s ruling to revoke the special status of the Kashmir region, Mao Ning said that on the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) issue, Beijing’s position is consistent and clear-cut. This is a dispute left from the past between Pakistan and India, and it should be properly addressed by peaceful means according to the United Nations (UN) Charter, UN Security Council resolutions, and relevant bilateral agreements.
Indian August 5, 2019 Move
It is to be noted that on August 5, 2019, India revoked the special status granted to the disputed region under Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution and downgraded the erstwhile state into two federally-administered Union Territory of Ladakh and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
China had objected to the changes to Jammu and Kashmir as it has border claims in Ladakh along what is called the Line of Actual Control.
