China rejects troops in Kashmir claim

The New York Times claimed last week that up to 11,000 soldiers of the Chinese army were in Gilgit, in the north-west of Kashmir.

"The story that China has deployed some military in the northern part of Pakistan is totally groundless and out of ulterior purposes," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu insisted.

"Some people are making fabrications to destroy relations between China, Pakistan and India, but their attempt will arrive nowhere," she said.

The piece by Selig Harrison - director of the Asia programme at the US-based Centre for International Policy - claimed that China wanted control of the region to get clear road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan. It alleged that many of the soldiers were working on a railway link.

Earlier this week China said that it had not received word from New Delhi that it had suspended military exchanges, despite Indian media reports that relations had been put on hold after Beijing refused to grant a visa to a top Indian army general from the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.

An anonymous senior Indian official was quoted in a Hindu newspaper at the weekend as saying that future military exchanges and a joint exercise between Indian and Chinese defence forces would remain suspended until China resolves the issue.

But China's Ministry of National Defence said in a statement that it had not suspended the exchanges nor received word from India about any suspension. Ms Jiang insisted that reports of any suspension were untrue and that Beijing had no intention of interfering in the Kashmir dispute.

"As a neighbour and friend of both countries, China believes that the issue should be left to the two countries so that it can be properly handled through dialogue and consultation," she said.

India and Pakistan both control part of the Himalayan region, while claiming sovereignty over all of it. China also claims a part of north-eastern Kashmir that it says is part of Tibet.