China sees urgency on Kashmir over COVID-19 at UNSC; gets slammed by India

India has slammed China for raking Kashmir, this time in New York on the website of its permanent mission.

The development came after China in its statement said it "immediately" responded and processed the letter by Pakistan on March 10 on Kashmir and it remains "high on the agenda of the council". '

While China's statement on its mission at UN was in Indian media reports, the country as the President of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the month of March showed no "response" or urgency to COVID-19 meet.

It nonetheless was keen on giving clarification and show support for Pakistan on the issue. 

The ministry of external affairs in a statement said, "We reject the reference to Jammu and Kashmir in a statement made by the spokesperson of the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations."

"China is well aware of India’s consistent position on this issue. The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir has been, is and shall continue to be an integral part of India. Issues related to J&K are internal matter to India,"  it added.

Asking China to "refrain from commenting on matters that are internal affairs of India and respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity", India said China should "recognise and condemn the scourge of cross-border terrorism that affect the lives of the people of India, including in J&K." from Pakistan.

China was given the letter to raise Kashmir at UNSC by the foreign minister of Pakistan SM Qureshi, hoping China as the chair of last month will raise the matter, both being close to each other. The Chinese envoy to UN Zhang Jun had even circulated the letter of Pakistan as an official document of the council, though no meeting happened.

It happened even as there was growing criticism against UNSC which failed to convene a meeting under Bejing's leadership on COVID-19.

UNSC member country sources told WION that China was not keen to discuss the matter as it feared more information might be asked from it.

The first case of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, China and since then globally it has come under pressure for not giving initial information that could have prevented pandemic from spreading and killing thousands across the world.