FRESH CLAIMS
Chinese embassy official based in Pakistan in a recent tweet has linked the present Ladakh standoff with the article 370, abrogation and to the present status of Kashmir and Ladakh.
“India’s actions of unilaterally changing the status quo of Kashmir and continuing to exacerbate regional tensions have posed a challenge to the sovereignty of China and Pakistan and made the India-Pakistan relations and China-India relations more complex,” embassy officials in Islamabad tweeted.
According to the media reports this embassy official in Pakistan is responsible for liaising with the media. Though the tweet could represent his personal opinion, this is the first time a Chinese official has sought to link the border standoff with the change in Kashmir’s status, including the creation of the union territory of Ladakh, which particularly angered China.
India and China are currently engaged through diplomatic and military channels for practical disengagement to end the border standoff after what Indian officials have described as a “limited military disengagement” along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the focus of the tensions.
When India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5 last year, the Chinese foreign ministry had issued two statements criticizing the development, including one that focused on the splitting of the state into union territories.
