India Rejects China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Infrastructure Buildup in Shaksgam Valley

Key facts

• The Indian government on Friday firmly rejected China's infrastructure buildup through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the Shaksgam Valley, terming it 'illegal and invalid'.
• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India has never recognised the 'so-called' China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963 or the 'so-called' CPEC.
• The MEA reaffirmed that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an 'integral and inalienable part' of India.
• The CPEC passes through Indian territory which is under 'forcible and illegal occupation of Pakistan'.
• The remarks follow reports of China's construction of military infrastructure and roads in the Shaksgam Valley, a trans-Karakoram tract ceded by Pakistan under the 1963 Boundary Agreement.
• The China-Pakistan concert on the boundary in the Karakoram area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir covers a distance of over 590 km and violates India's traditional and legal rights.