Workers from the Jammu and Kashmir Lakes and Waterways Development Authority clean the Dal Lake ahead of the G20 meeting in Srinagar on Saturday, May 19, 2023. - AFP
NEW DELHI/BEIJING. May 20 (Bloomberg): China has said it will not attend next week’s G-20 tourism group meeting scheduled to take place in India’s Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir.
"China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on May 19 in Beijing.
India, which hosts the G-20 presidency this year, has organized a series of meetings across the country ahead of the leaders’ summit in September.
The South Asian nation will hold the tourism working group meeting in Srinagar from May 22 to May 24, the first major international event in the region since Jammu and Kashmir lost its special status in 2019.
The statement from China also comes after Pakistan condemned India for holding the event in the disputed region. Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad have remained frosty for many years.
Earlier this month, Pakistan said it will not engage bilaterally with India until its government reviewed the decision to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy. - Bloomberg
