LONDON: China has told Pakistan that it will not accept any form of independence for Jammu and Kashmir It fears that the US could use Kashmir as a base to destabilize Beijing according to media reports from Islamabad
The Chinese apprehensions were conveyed to Pakistan prior to the Indo Pak foreign secretary level talks which concluded Last week.
As the two-day talks ended it was disclosed that China had become a major diplomatic: player in the dispute The Daily Telegraph reported last week from Pakistan.
It said high-level military delegations had visited both India and Pakistan in recent weeks and that they had told their counterparts that although China would like a negotiated solution to the Kashmir problem it is absolutely opposed to any form of independence which some separatist groups now desire
When Premier Benazir Bhutto visited Beijing last month there was no sign of China’s traditional support for Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir
China fears an independent Kashmir could become an American surrogate on its southern border.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 14, 1994
