New Delhi, Aug 5 (UNI) India on Wednesday sharply reacted after China termed abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir as “illegal” and said that Beijing has no locus standi in the internal affairs of other nations.
It also advised the Chinese to refrain from commenting on internal matters of other nations.
In a response to a media query, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “We have noted the comments of the Chinese MFA spokesperson on the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The Chinese side has no locus standi whatsoever on this matter and is advised not to comment on the internal affairs of other nations.”
Earlier, China has said that “unilateral” changes India made to the status of the former state of Jammu & Kashmir by splitting it into two separate union territories in 2019 were illegal and invalid.
China also called on India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute over Kashmir through dialogue and consultations.
In October 2019, Jammu & Kashmir ceased to be a state and became two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
On August 5 last year, Parliament had revoked the special status enjoyed by the former state under Article 370 of the Constitution.
Responding to a query on the impact of New Delhi’s decision one year later, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that Beijing has been closely following the situation in Kashmir.
“China follows closely the situation in the Kashmir region. China’s position on the Kashmir issue is clear and consistent. This issue is a dispute leftover from history between Pakistan and India. That is an objective fact as laid out by the UN Charter, UN Security Council resolutions and the bilateral agreements between Pakistan and India,” spokesperson Wang said at the regular ministry briefing on Wednesday.
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