Prateek Tanmay
2 min readNew DelhiMay 27, 2026 12:46 AM IST
India strongly rejected references to Jammu and Kashmir in a joint statement issued by China and Pakistan on Tuesday, and called them “unwarranted references,” adding that the Union Territory and Ladakh “have been, are and will” remain an integral part of the country.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in a statement, said that India’s position on Jammu and Kashmir remains “consistent and well known” to the concerned parties and that no other country has locus standi to comment on it.
“India categorically rejects unwarranted references to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in the Joint Statement between China and Pakistan. The Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India,” Jaiswal said while responding to media queries on the issue.
Our response to media queries regarding unwarranted references to Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir in the Joint Statement between China and Pakistan ⬇️
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) May 26, 2026
The joint statement by China and Pakistan was issued during Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent visit to China, where Beijing and Islamabad called the Kashmir issue as “left over from history”.
The External Affairs Ministry also criticised the mentioning of projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that New Delhi “oppose and reject” Islamabad’s “illegal and forcible occupation of India’s sovereign territory.”
“As regards the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, some of which are in India’s sovereign territory, we resolutely oppose and reject any moves by other countries to reinforce or legitimise Pakistan’s illegal and forcible occupation of these territories, impinging on India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the MEA spokesperson said.
Explaining that New Delhi has never recognised the 1963 boundary agreement between Pakistan and China, Jaiswal said, “We have also seen references to the so-called ‘trans-boundary water resources cooperation’ between China and Pakistan. As the two countries do not share any boundary, the question of so-called ‘trans-boundary water resources cooperation’ does not arise.”
