India dismisses Beijing’s concerns over Kashmir because ‘it won’t have any impact on China’
- New Delhi’s ambassador says decision to strip state of its autonomous status is purely an ‘internal matter’
- Decision has angered China’s long-standing ally Pakistan, but India insists the move has ‘zero international ramifications’
India has told China that its concerns about Kashmir are misplaced because it is an internal matter “that has no impact on China at all”.
Vikram Misri, the country’s ambassador to Beijing, delivered the message on Tuesday as part of a defence of the decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, where the borders with both Pakistan and China are disputed.
But Misri said relations between the two countries were developing in spite of this complaint, adding “we respectfully would state that China’s concern on this account is misplaced”.
“We do not see how the reorganisation of the state, or changes in parts of Indian constitution, have impacted on China. We would really like to understand how they have, because in our minds, this is totally an internal matter,” Misri said.