An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier patrols near the fenced border with Pakistan in Suchetgarh, southwest of Jammu. Photo: Reuters

China's media and experts on Tuesday slammed India's "irrational" move to seal the Pakistan border by December 2018, saying it would "complicate" India's relations with China.

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING

Chinese experts also claimed there was "no evidence to prove Pakistan is behind the [Uri] attack", suggesting India was "making a very irrational decision" and that the move would further complicate India's relations with Pakistan's "all weather ally" China.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said the 3,323 km border would be completely sealed by December 2018.

Hu Zhiyong, a scholar at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, slammed the move, saying, "India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack".

"The country's decision reflects its Cold War mentality, and would only cause deeper hatred among residents living in Indian and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir," Hu said using China's official reference to Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

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Hu was speaking to the Global Times, a Communist Party-run tabloid known for its nationalistic views, that doesn't necessarily reflect government policy. The paper often takes hard-line positions against the U.S. and Japan, as also India.

WILL DISRUPT PEACE EFFORTS

Hu said "a completely sealed border would further hinder the already scarce border trade and talks between the two countries. Since Pakistan is China's all-weather strategic partner, India's decision would make China-Pakistan-India relations more complicated," Hu was quoted as saying, adding that a peaceful resolution on the Kashmir disputes is in the interest of China's homeland security, especially its western regions.

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Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies, added to the paper that "the sealed border would only disrupt peace efforts made by the two sides."