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China experts back Pakistan over Uri, border sealing
BEIJING: There is no evidence of Islamabad’s involvement in the terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri and New Delhi’s decision to seal the India-Pakistan border
BEIJING: There is no evidence of Islamabad’s involvement in the terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri and New Delhi’s decision to seal the India-Pakistan border is “irrational” and will set back bilateral ties, Chinese experts have said.
The move reflects India’s “Cold War mentality”, one expert said.
The sealing of the border, announced by the Indian government last week, will complicate the regional security situation and impact ties between India, Pakistan and China, the experts contended in state media.
The Chinese media has only reported on the India-Pakistan face-off till now, sourcing articles solely from official Xinhua news agency in line with directives from the government about local media reporting on sensitive issues.
On Tuesday, the Global Times, a newspaper tied to the Communist party mouthpiece People’s Daily and known for its mostly hawkish views on India, published the views of Chinese experts who seemed more than worried about the way New Delhi is dealing with Islamabad, which, they said, was China’s “all-weather strategic ally”.
Neither the experts nor the newspaper commented on the “surgical strikes” carried out by India along the Line of Control to target terrorist bases. “India’s decision to completely close its border with Pakistan is ‘irrational’ and would lead to a major setback in bilateral relations,” the Chinese analysts told the Global Times.
“India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack,” said Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
