China Highly Concerned Over Kashmir Situation, Escalating Indo-Pak Conflict: Wang Yi

BEIJING, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Aug, 2019 ) :China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi Monday said China was highly concerned over the current situation in Kashmir and escalating conflict between India and Pakistan.

During a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to China, Wang Yi said following the current situation in Kashmir and India-Pakistan conflict closely, China opposed any unilateral action that complicated the situation.

"New Delhi's move to end the constitutional status of Jammu Kashmir will change the status quo of the disputed area and result in a tense situation in the region," he added.

Wang Yi hoped that India and Pakistan would resolve disputes in a peaceful manner and jointly safeguard the overall situation of regional peace and stability.

About Indian measure to include the Chinese border areas to the its territory, he pointed out that the Indian side's measures also challenged China's sovereign rights and interests, contrary to the agreement between the two sides on safeguarding the border areas of the two countries, and peace and security.

"China is seriously concerned about this," he said and added, "The Indian side's measures will not have any effect on the Chinese side, nor will it change the fact that China exercises sovereignty over the relevant territory and the status quo of effective jurisdiction." The Chinese foreign minister hoped that the Indian side would do more things that were conducive to promoting mutual trust, and do more things that were conducive to maintaining the border areas and peace and tranquility, and avoid unnecessary interference with the overall situation of China-India relations.

Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar explained the position of his country, saying the Indian constitutional amendment did not produce new sovereignty, and change the India-Pakistan ceasefire line, as well as the actual control line of the India-China border.

"The Indian side hopes to improve relations with Pakistan and is willing to exercise restraint and maintain regional peace and stability," he added.

He assured that at the same time, the Indian side was also willing to continue to properly resolve the border issue between India and China through consultations, and would abide by the consensus reached by the two countries on maintaining peace in the border areas.

The Indian External Affairs Minister's visit comes amid growing tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

During his stay, Jaishankar co-chaired the second meeting of the China-India high-level people-to-people exchanges mechanism with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Jaishankar is the first Indian minister to tour China after the Modi government began its second term. The trip also comes following New Delhi's decision last week to revoke autonomy for the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi paid an emergency visit to China on Friday and briefed Wang on Pakistan's stance and counter-measures on the Kashmir dispute.