In China’s first reaction to SC verdict on Article 370, focus on dialogue

The Indian Supreme Court endorsed the August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, calling the move the “culmination of the process of integration” of J&K into the Union of India.

NEW DELHI: China on Tuesday called for the Kashmir issue to be resolved through dialogue and consultations between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Supreme Court endorsing the government’s August 2019 decision to scrap the region’s special status.

The Supreme Court upheld the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, in its verdict on 11 December. (HT Photo/Waseem Andrabi)

The reaction from China’s foreign ministry came a day after the country’s traditional ally, Pakistan, rejected the verdict given by India’s top court on Monday. Pakistan’s caretaker foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said the ruling was the product of a “pliant judiciary”.

A five-judge Constitution bench on Monday unanimously endorsed the August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir, calling the move the “culmination of the process of integration” of the erstwhile state into the Union of India.

Asked about the court’s judgment at a regular foreign ministry media briefing in Beijing, spokesperson Mao Ning said: “China’s position on the Kashmir issue is consistent and clear-cut. The Kashmir issue, left from the past, needs to be resolved peacefully and appropriately in accordance with the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and relevant bilateral agreement.”

She added: “Parties concerned need to settle the dispute through dialogue and consultation so as to maintain regional peace and stability.”

A statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Monday contended Jammu and Kashmir is “an internationally recognised dispute, which remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council”, and the final disposition of the matter is to be made in “accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions and as per aspirations of the Kashmiri people”.

The statement claimed that India has “no right to make unilateral decisions on the status of this disputed territory against the will of the Kashmiri people and Pakistan”.

There was no immediate response from Indian officials to the statements from the foreign ministries of China and Pakistan. India has said in the past that Jammu and Kashmir, which was divided into two union territories after the abrogation of the region’s special status, is an integral part of the country and other nations have no say in the matter.

The Pakistan foreign ministry statement also contended that Islamabad “does not acknowledge the supremacy of the Indian Constitution over Jammu and Kashmir”, and that any process subservient to the Indian Constitution “carries no legal significance”.

With India-Pakistan ties currently in a deep freeze and relations between India and China at their lowest ebb in six decades because of the dragging military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the pronouncements by Beijing and Islamabad are unlikely to impact India’s relations with both countries.