China said on Friday that it is opposed to a G20 tourism meeting next week in Kashmir and will not attend.
“China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a regular press conference.
India, as the current chair of G20, has arranged a series of nationwide meetings in preparation for the upcoming summit in New Delhi this September.
In 2019, India created two federal territories from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. China and Pakistan opposed this move.
Last month, China skipped another G20 meeting held in Ladakh.
Meanwhile, India has maintained that changing the status of Jammu and Kashmir is an internal matter.
New Delhi has previously rejected the statements from Beijing and Islamabad on Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh are and always will be integral and inalienable parts of India. No other country has a locus standi to comment on the same,” the Ministry of External Affairs has commented before on comments by Pakistan and China.
The bilateral relationship came under severe strain following the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh in June 2020.