China has defended a law passed last year to limit movement at the heavily guarded border with India, saying it is necessary for national security.
In October, the Chinese parliament passed a legislative package that removed from existing laws power to prohibit travel across the border, and would now require citizens who want to move between areas of China and India to obtain consular permission before they depart. The Indian government has criticized the new provisions, and said they are in violation of the current Basic Agreement on Boundary and Water Issues, which India signed with China in 1960.
“The Chinese political establishment respects and defends the court verdicts, and all countries should abide by their duty,” Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said, according to Reuters. Hua was responding to comments made by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who said at the end of February that China’s new border law created “the most serious security threat in the over 60 years of bilateral bilateral relations.”
Swaraj also accused China of failing to abide by the treaty, which she said created a mutual trust and prohibited the use of force. “We have always upheld this treaty as the primary framework for managing and controlling border tension and disputes. The People’s Republic of China has so far breached this treaty,” she said.
Read the full story at Reuters.
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