The Tit for Tat between China and India continues unabated. Beijing has deployed forces in Tibet. Delhi has moved aircraft to forward bases and is now building roads to the border. China had stopped giving visas to Indians born or living in South Tibet (Arunchal Pradesh) and Kashmir correctly claiming that both were disputed areas. Delhi then raised the stakes by telling China not to build infrastructure projects in Azad (Pakistani) Kashmir.
NEW DELHI: India urged China on Wednesday to stop development projects in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the latest salvo prompted by a decades-long border dispute between the Asian giants.
“We hope that the Chinese side will take a long-term view of the India-China relations, and cease such activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan,” an Indian Foreign Ministry statement said. India was reacting to a comment by Chinese President Hu Jintao reported by the official news agency Xinhua that China was “glad” to carry on the Pakistani projects. India urges China to stop projects in Azad Kashmir. Reuters
Beijing – Chinese President Hu Jintao praised his country’s infrastructure projects in Pakistan on Tuesday, as he and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reaffirmed the traditional close friendship between the two nations.
Hu said China wanted to ‘join hands with Pakistan to further enhance mutual trust at strategic level’ and ‘deepen cooperation in all dimensions,’ the official Xinhua news agency reported.
‘We are glad to witness the smooth progress of a number of major cooperative projects under the joint efforts of both sides, such as the Neelum-Jhelum hydro-electric project and the Karakorum Highway (KKH) upgrading project,’ Hu was quoted as telling Gilani.
A free-trade agreement on services, signed earlier this year, ‘opened up broad prospect for bilateral trade and economic cooperation,’ he said.
Pakistan and China ‘always shared mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual support and mutual assistance no matter how the international situation and their domestic conditions changed,’ Hu was quoted as saying.
Hu praised the ‘consistent effort to uphold China-Pakistan friendship’ by Gilani, who is making his first visit to China since becoming prime minister in March.
‘I appreciate your comment that no matter how the international situation has changed, the people of China and Pakistan are always joined in hearts and hands,’ Hu was quoted as saying.
Gilani also met Chinese officials in charge of overseas investment, coal mining and water conservation on Tuesday, the second day of his four-day visit, the agency said.
He was also scheduled to meet Premier Wen Jiabao and other Chinese leaders, and to observe Wednesday’s meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Central Asian security grouping.
Before leaving Pakistan, Gilani said his visit would promote economic and defence cooperation between Pakistan and China as well as strengthen cultural and social relations.
China is Pakistan’s main military equipment supplier, and has helped the nuclear-armed Muslim nation to develop several major infrastructure projects.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in 2001 to enhance security cooperation between its six member states China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Mongolia, India, Iran and Pakistan are observers of the organization.
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