The move comes amid ongoing efforts to improve bilateral ties between India and China, which have been severely strained since the 2020 military standoff in Ladakh
GUWAHATI: India firmly rejected China’s recent announcement of creating two new counties in the Aksai Chin region on Friday, January 3. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) registered a formal protest with China, condemning the move as illegitimate and unacceptable as the location is part of India’s Union Territory of Ladakh.
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“We have never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area,” stated MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, reiterating India’s consistent position on the sovereignty of the region. “The creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India’s long-standing and consistent position regarding our sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China’s illegal and forcible occupation of the same.”
China had previously declared the establishment of He’an County and Hekang County within the Hotan prefecture of Xinjiang province, a region known for its internment of millions of Uighurs, a primarily Muslim ethnic minority. These new territorial divisions encompass areas within Aksai Chin, which has been under Chinese control since the 1950s, but India has constantly maintained that the creation of these counties does not alter its sovereignty claims.
The MEA further conveyed India’s “solemn protest” to Beijing through diplomatic channels. The move comes amid ongoing efforts to improve bilateral ties between India and China, which have been severely strained since the 2020 military standoff in Ladakh.
The conflict, which included the Galwan Valley clashes that claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers, marked a low point in relations between the two countries.
