China-India relations: Beijing stresses that it does not recognise Ladakh

China ‘does not recognise the so-called Ladakh union territory, illegally established by India’, foreign ministry says

Statement comes after reports say India recently completed construction of eight new bridges in disputed region

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Indian army vehicles move along a highway leading to Ladakh, which Beijing says it does not recognise. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:00pm, 15 Oct 2020Updated: 11:05pm, 15 Oct 2020

Beijing has reiterated that it does not recognise Ladakh, the region at the centre of the China-India border dispute that New Delhi designated as a union territory last year.

The statement came after Indian media reported this week that India recently completed the construction of eight bridges in the mountainous region.

“China does not recognise the so-called Ladakh union territory, illegally established by India,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday, adding that Beijing “opposes the development of infrastructure construction in the border disputed area for the purpose of military control”.

Another foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, made an almost identical statement on September 29.

Beijing has openly opposed the creation of Ladakh since October 31 last year when India split its northernmost regions into the two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, which borders Pakistan, and Ladakh, which borders China.

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