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China ‘misread’ India’s decision to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir: Jaishankar
China had said that the decision to make Ladakh a union territory was “unacceptable”. India had rejected the criticism and said Ladakh was an “internal matter”.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that China had “misread” India’s decision to nullify Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The government had divided the state to two union territories—J&K and Ladakh.
China had said that the decision to make Ladakh a union territory was “unacceptable”. India had rejected the criticism and said Ladakh was an “internal matter”.
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In New York for the UN summit, Jaishankar said he had explained to Beijing that nothing has changed between the two countries. “I think the Chinese misread what was happening there. I went a few days after the legislation to China and explained to them that as far as they were concerned, nothing had changed. India’s boundary had not changed, the Line of Actual Control had not changed,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying by ANI.
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China had come out in support of Pakistan on Article 370 and even made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir in a joint statement with Islamabad. New Delhi firmly rejected the statement and said the two neighbours should stop work on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Jaishankar reiterated that the Article 370 move has no implications for India’s external boundaries. “Pakistan is a country which has really created an entire industry of terrorism to deal with the Kashmir issue. In my view, it’s actually bigger than Kashmir, I think they have created it for India,” he said.
On possible talks with Islamabad, he said that India is open to talks with Pakistan but not “terroristan”. He said Pakistan has created a whole industry of terror.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for a decisive action on terrorism at his ‘Howdy, Modi’ rally in Houson last week. He stinged Pakistan by saying that the world knows which country supports terrorism against India.
