China rejects reports of troop deployment in Pakistan

BEIJING - China has rejected reports that claim the presence of over 11,000 troops in northern Pakistan, saying that ‘ulterior motives’ were involved in hurting Beijing’s relations with India and Pakistan through such ‘groundless reports’.

In a statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said,” We believe the attempts of some people to fabricate stories to provoke China-Pakistan or China-India relations are doomed to fail.”

Xinhua News said Beijing’s reaction came amid reports that more than 10,000 Chinese troops were present in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The Pakistan Foreign Office strongly denied the news being circulated in the American and Indian media claiming that ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ region had been handed over to China, on Tuesday.

“The Chinese were working on landslide, flood hit areas and on the destroyed Korakoram Highway with the permission of Pakistani Government,” the Dawn quoted Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit, as saying. (ANI)