BEIJING – China has never recognised the so-called union territory of Ladakh set up unilaterally and illegally by India, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
“India’s domestic judicial verdict does not change the fact that the western section of the China-India border has always belonged to China,” she told the media while strongly rejecting the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict endorsing the India’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
On December 11, the Supreme Court of India announced a verdict, upholding the validity of the order abrogating Article 370 of Constitution, asking the Indian government to restore the statehood in 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 top court’s decision to revoke the special status of Kashmir region, Mao Ning had already said, “On the Kashmir issue, China’s position is consistent and clear-cut. This is a dispute left from the past between India and Pakistan and it should be properly addressed in peaceful means according to the United Nations Charter, UN Security Council resolutions and relevant bilateral agreements.”
It may be mentioned that on August 5, 2019, New Delhi revoked the special status granted to the region under Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution and downgraded the erstwhile state into two federally-administered Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and Union Territory of Ladakh.
Beijing had objected to the changes to Jammu and Kashmir as China has border claims in Ladakh along what is called as Line of Actual Control.
