SRINAGAR: China and Turkey have decided not to attend the major meeting in Kashmir that will take place after Article 370 is repealed in 2019 as the third G20 tourism working group meeting has commenced in Srinagar.
China's decision is probably the result of Pakistan's protests, a close ally that said the G20 summits were intended to support India's "illegal occupation" of Jammu and Kashmir.
In an official statement, Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said, "China firmly opposes holding any kind of G20 meetings on disputed territory. We won't go to those meetings.
The Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has previously come up in unwanted conversations between Pakistan and China. India has consistently disagreed with Beijing's and Islamabad's positions on Jammu and Kashmir.
Notablym for the past three years, India and China have been involved in a protracted border stalemate in eastern Ladakh.
Media reports said, Turkey is expected to join China in opposing the G20 tourism summit in Srinagar. However, the authorities have not yet released an official announcement. Turkey has recently criticised how the Indian government has handled the Kashmir problem.
Prior to a G20 tourism meeting, Indian Army soldiers have been monitoring Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K. To reduce the possibility of a terrorist incident occurring at the G20 meeting, security has been stepped up in "vulnerable locations."
Since the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gained direct control in 2019 and withdrew the union territory's limited autonomy, this is the first diplomatic gathering there. At a large, well-guarded location on the shores of Dal Lake in Srinagar, the three-day gathering got underway on Monday.
In order to demonstrate what the authorities claim is "normalcy and peace returning" to the area, the roads leading to the area have recently been blacktopped, and power poles have been lit up in the country of India's national flag.
More than a million Indian nationals visited Kashmir last year as a result of India's promotion of tourism there. India will have the G-20 chair in 2023, and the government has scheduled more than 100 meetings.
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