MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that like Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir, China is also concerned over the actions India has been taking in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IOK) since August 2019.

In an interview with state-run radio channel on the topic of “Pakistan-China Defence Cooperation”, he said that China wants a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue to bring peace and stability in the region and the country is opposed to the approach of a military solution to the dispute.

He said that China on one hand, befittingly responded to Indian Army’s adventurism in Ladakh while on the other, it helped Pakistan convene an informal session of the UN Security Council to discuss the Kashmir issue after more than 50 years.

The AJK president said that China is the only friend in the world, which has remained stuck to the stance on Kashmir it had adopted in the 1960s. When India abolished the old status of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir after August 5, 2019 and declared the region Indian union territory, China had expressed a strong reaction to it.

Talking about multidimensional defence cooperation between Pakistan and China, Sardar Masood Khan said China and Pakistan share close military relations as China is providing a range of modern technologies to Pakistan for strengthening its defence system, helping Pakistan in the peaceful use of nuclear energy and both countries are making concerted efforts to forge deeper strategic ties for a shared future and security.

He said that China has been supporting Pakistan in defence matters since the 1960s and expressed the hope that its position will remain unchanged in the future.

The state president said that China had no direct concern with the ceasefire reached between the armed forces of Pakistan and India on the Line of Control, but being a friendly country, China supports every measure and step in the interest of Pakistan. “A reason for India’s willingness for a ceasefire at the LoC may be the advice of Indian Army commanders to their government following an armed clash with China in Ladakh that the Indian Army cannot afford to fight on two fronts simultaneously. However, nothing final can be said in this regard,” Khan said.

To a question about the formation of a four-nation alliance against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the AJK president said that the CPEC and Belt and Road Initiative are aimed at bringing people of the region together and resolving their economic problems. No bloc should be formed against such human welfare projects, he asserted.