On Monday, China reaffirmed its territorial claims over the Shaksgam Jammu and Kashmir Valley in Indian-occupied Shaksgam Valley in Indian-Illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and defended its infrastructure project in the region. It rejected India’s objection and insisted that the construction is beyond reproach.
“The territory you mentioned belongs to China, Mao told reporters. It is fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory. China and Pakistan in the 1960s signed a boundary agreement and delimited the boundary between the two countries, which is the right of China and Pakistan as sovereign countries,”she said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that the area belongs to China and that Beijing is well within its right to carry out development activities there. The Chinese foreign minister responded, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson responded, said this while responding to India’s objections raised last week.
Breaking: China rejects India’s claim to Shaksgam Valley in Kashmir
“The territory you mentioned belongs to China. It’s fully justified for China to conduct infrastructure construction on its own territory,” says China’s Foreign Ministry
— Waseem Abbasi (@Wabbasi007) January 13, 2026
“Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory. We have never recognized the so-called China-Pakistan boundary agreements signed in 1963. We have consistently maintained that the agreement is illegal and invalid,” said the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday.
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India has however rejected China’s claims and the legality of the 1963 China-Pakistan boundary agreement under which Pakistan ceded around 5,180 square kilometres of territory in the Shaksgam Valley to China from areas under its illegal, under its, New Delhi maintains that the region is part of the Indian territory. External Affairs India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randeep Jaiswal said on Friday that Shaksgam Valley is Indian territory and adding that India has never recognized the China-Pakistan boundary agreement signed in 1963.
He further said that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral and inalienable part of India, adding that his stance has been clearly conveyed to Pakistan and Chinese authorities several times.
However, China has rejected India’s objections to the CPEC as well, reiterating its long-held position that the project is an economic cooperation initiative. Mao said that the corridor is aimed at promoting the local socio-economic development and improving the livelihood of people in the region.
