China opposes Japanese investment in India’s North East, says no ‘third party’ involvement in ‘disputed’ areas
Reacting sharply to Japan’s plans to step up investment in India’s North-eastern states, China on Friday said that it was opposed to any foreign investment in the “disputed areas” in that region.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had discussed the possibility of boosting investment from Japan in India’s North East when they met for annual summit-level talks in Gujarat a couple of days ago.
Reacting to the talks between Modi and Abe in this regard, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the border between India and China has not been totally delimited and that there are disputes on the eastern section of the boundary.
“We are now trying to seek a solution through negotiations that is acceptable to both sides. Under such circumstances, various parties should respect such aspects and any third party should not be involved in our efforts to resolve the disputes,” she added.
Hua Chunying also pointed out that the India-Japan joint statement did not mention China anywhere in the document. She also added that contrary to media reports, she could not find any “innuendoes” in Beijing’s reference in the joint statement.
Playing down that part of the joint statement which called for the countries involved in the South China Sea dispute to resolve the disputes peacefully, Hua Chunying said that the statement only advocated the need for resolving the disputes through dialogue.