China says position on Kashmir remains unchanged

A spokesman of the Chinese Mission to the UN has rejected Indian media reports that China, during its presidency of the Security Council in March, had ignored Pakistan's call for urgent consideration of the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir at the 15-member body, saying Beijing's position on the decades-old dispute remains unchanged.

"The question of Kashmir remains high on the Council's agenda," the spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday. "China pays close attention to the current situation, and China's position on the Kashmir issue remains unchanged," he added.

"The Kashmir issue," the spokesman said, "is a dispute left from history, and should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the Charter of the United Nations, Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreements. "China opposes any unilateral actions that complicate the situation," he declared.

On China's part, the spokesman said that Ambassador Zhang, as the Security Council president, immediately circulated a letter from Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi highlighting India's "grave violations" in Indian occupied Kashmir as an official document of the Council.

The letter was delivered to him by Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram on March 10. "Under its duties as President of the Council, China immediately responded to and processed the letter," the spokesman said.