'No PLA troops' in Kashmir

By Wang Zhaokun

A senior Pakistani official Tuesday denied recent reports that Chinese troops are stationed in the area of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir to build a high-speed rail and road there.

"The story is not true," Masood Khan, ambassador of Pakistan to China, told the Global Times. "It is totally fabricated."

Khan said there are no Chinese troops in the area, but a humanitarian team from China is currently there to help local Pakistanis who suffered during the ravage of the country's most devastating floods in history.

The ambassador's comment was a response to a report by the New York Times last week, which claimed that about 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army are stationed in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

The newspaper asserted that the reason for the military presence is that "China wants a grip on the strategic area to ensure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan."

The report obviously rattled nerves in India, which holds 45 percent of the disputed area of Kashmir and borders both China and Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs of India said Monday, that the presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir would be a matter of "serious concern" if the reports were proved to be true, according to India's Indo-Asian News Service

"If true, it would be a matter of serious concern, and we would do all that is necessary to ensure the safety and security of the nation," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.

Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies(SIIS), told the Global Times that the speculation in the report on Sino-Pakistan cooperation is senseless.

"Building a rail and road in the region first faces a lot of technical difficulties, and even if China has such a plan, it will be most likely for considerations of economy and energy and will not pose a threat to any other countries," Zhao said.