China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia skip G20 meet in Srinagar

China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia officially withdrew from participating in the ongoing G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Kashmir with Egypt also joining the trio among nine invited countries.

120 foreign delegates from 17 countries arrived in Srinagar on Monday but there was no representative from China, though some private tourism representatives from Turkey and Saudi have joined.

A PTI report from Beijing quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin as saying: “China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meetings on disputed territory… We will not attend such meetings.”

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India gave a stern response to China after it opposed holding of G20 tourism working group meeting in Kashmir, saying it is free to hold meetings on its own territory.

Similarly, New Delhi while rejecting Pakistan’s assertions which called holding of G20 meeting in Kashmir as an “irresponsible move”, said Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India and it is well within its rights to schedule an event in Srinagar.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the UK, the US and European Union are participating in the three-day event in Kashmir.

The delegates of these countries reached Srinagar Airport from Delhi via chartered flight of Airasia at around 10:30 a.m where they were received by Joint Secretary G20 Bhavna Saxena and other senior officials of the J&K government.

The ongoing G20 meeting from May 22 to 25 is first major international event in Kashmir since August 2019 scrapping the erstwhile state’s special status under Article 370.