India Rejects China-Pakistan 'Boundary Joint Commission', Says It Has No Legal Basis

New Delhi: India on Wednesday (September 16) rejected the operationalisation of a Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission, saying there was no legally recognised boundary between Pakistan and China in the area concerned and that Islamabad had no right to enter into arrangements involving Indian territory.

The development came four days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, with the two leaders discussing the boundary question as part of efforts to stabilise India-China ties.

Pakistan said on Wednesday that it had operationalised the commission with China, describing it as a mechanism for cooperation on border management, joint border surveys, trade flows and people-to-people connectivity.

Its inaugural meeting was held at Pakistan's foreign ministry in Islamabad and was co-led by Li Ya, deputy director general in China's foreign ministry, and Bilal Mahmood Chaudhary, director general for China in Pakistan's foreign ministry.

Hours later, India's foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi had a "clear and consistent" position on the issue.

"There is no boundary between Pakistan and China. We reject the so-called joint commission, which is without any legal basis," Jaiswal said.

The commission concerns the frontier between China and Pakistan along territory that India considers part of its Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the Shaksgam Valley. Pakistan ceded about 5,180 sq km of the territory to China under a 1963 agreement that India has never accepted.

"We have never recognised the so-called ‘China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement' of 1963 and have consistently maintained that it is illegal and invalid," Jaiswal said.

The Indian government has said the territory was part of Jammu and Kashmir under Pakistani occupation and therefore could not legally be transferred to China.

China's ties with Pakistan have long been a source of concern for New Delhi, particularly over Chinese infrastructure and investment in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

India has also consistently opposed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor because portions of it pass through territory claimed by India. In January, Jaiswal said New Delhi did not recognise CPEC and reiterated that Shaksgam Valley was Indian territory. China, for its part, has said that it and Pakistan had delimited their boundary in the 1960s and that infrastructure construction in the area was taking place on Chinese territory.

On Wednesday, Jaiswal said the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh "have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India". He said Pakistan had "no locus standi to enter into arrangements concerning Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation".

"We resolutely oppose and reject any attempts to alter the status of these occupied territories or legitimise illegal occupation, impinging on India's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Jaiswal said.

"Any so-called boundary cooperation between China and Pakistan concerning Indian territories would be completely unacceptable and would have no bearing whatsoever on India's sovereignty over these territories," he said.

He demanded that Islamabad should “immediately vacate from areas under its illegal and forcible occupation”.

Earlier on Saturday, Chinese President Xi was in India, making his first visit to the country in seven years. He met Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, with both sides publicly emphasising the need to stabilise bilateral relations and address their differences.

India has taken several steps towards normalising relations since an October 2024 agreement helped end a prolonged military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. Modi and Xi have met twice since then, including in Tianjin last year, before Xi's visit to New Delhi last week.

India's readout of the Modi-Xi meeting said the two leaders had committed themselves to a "fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution" of the boundary question and stressed that peace and tranquillity in the border areas were essential for the continued development of bilateral ties. Modi also called for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border issues.

Beijing said Modi's position on Taiwan and Tibet remained unchanged and that India would not allow activities directed against China from its territory. India did not include that formulation in its readout, with Jaiswal later asserting that Modi had raised Indian concerns "as well" and stressed the need for mutual sensitivity.

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