Overview
- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the Shaksgam Valley belongs to China and called infrastructure work there fully justified.
- Beijing characterized the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor as an economic initiative and said neither CPEC nor the 1960s boundary deal alters its stated position on Kashmir.
- India’s Ministry of External Affairs had objected on January 9, asserting the area is Indian territory and reserving the right to take necessary measures.
- On January 13, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi reiterated that India does not recognize the 1963 boundary agreement and called CPEC activity in the tract illegal.
- The Shaksgam Valley was ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963—about 5,180 sq km—under a pact India deems invalid, with separate reporting pointing to uncorroborated claims of new Chinese road work via Aghil Pass.