Shaksgam Valley row: India again rejects China claims, says ‘we do not accept 1963 Pakistan-China agreement'

Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday, 13 January, rejected the Chinese claims over the Shaksgam Valley, saying that India does not recognise the 1963 boundary agreement between Pakistan and China. Addressing a press conference, General Upendra Dwivedi said India considers the said agreement to be illegal.

“We do not accept any activity there. As far as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is concerned, we do not accept it and consider it an illegal action being carried out by the two nations,” General Upendra Dwivedi said.

India’s remarks followed Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning’s assertion of a claim over the Shaksgam Valley when he said that it “belongs to China.”

When asked about border issues and the CPEC, Mao Ning said, “The territory you mentioned belongs to China. It's fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory.”

The spokesperson further said that China and Pakistan had signed a boundary agreement in the 1960s and demarcated borders between the two countries and that the settlement was an exercise of the rights of two sovereign states.

According to a Global Times report, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson stressed that the border agreement between China and Pakistan, and the CPEC, do not affect China's position on the Kashmir issue, adding that China's position on this matter has not changed.

Where is Shaksgam Valley?

The Shaksgam Valley borders Xinjiang Province of the People's Republic of China to the north, the northern areas of Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) to the south and west, and the Siachen Glacier region to the east.

Earlier, on 9 January, India had rejected China's infrastructure buildup through the CPEC in the Shaksgam Valley, calling it “illegal and invalid”. India had also asserted that the Shaksgam Valley is an integral part of India.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “Shaksgam Valley is an Indian territory. We have never recognised the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid. We do not recognise the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor either, which passes through Indian territory, which is under forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan.”

“The entire UTs of J&K and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India. This has been clearly conveyed to the Chinese and Pakistani authorities several times. We have consistently protested with the Chinese side for its attempts to alter the ground reality in the Shaksgam Valley. We further reserve the right to take necessary measures to safeguard our interests,” the MEA spokesperson added.