Painters give final touches to a wall mural along a street ahead of the G20 meeting in Srinagar on May 19, 2023. AFP

Terming the region of Jammu and Kashmir as a “disputed territory”, China on Friday said that it will not participate in next week’s G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, “China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings in disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings.”

The third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting is scheduled to be held in Jammu and Kashmir under India’s presidency from May 22-24.

China has been a close ally of Pakistan, a country that tries to make territorial claims on Jammu and Kashmir.

Tourism players in Kashmir believe that the G20 meeting can attract investors and tourists from across the globe.

India assumed the presidency of the G20 grouping on December 1, 2022, and will hold the post for a year.

The G20 summit in Jammu and Kashmir promises to initiate a tidal wave of transformative outcomes, setting the region on a new trajectory toward stability, economic growth, and social development.

Meanwhile, ties between India and China have been strained since a military clash in Ladakh in 2020 in which 24 soldiers were killed.

With inputs from agencies

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