China's decision to skip the G-20 Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting in Srinagar doesn't result in any loss to New Delhi, and Beijing missing out on the event is "their loss", federal Minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.
"That (China not attending the meeting) does not make any difference. China not coming is China's loss, not India's," Singh told reporters on the sidelines of the G-20 meet in Srinagar.
The G-20 Tourism Working Group's meeting in Srinagar began on Monday, with delegates from all G-20 nations, except China, participating in the event.
New Delhi previously said that the meeting is aimed at boosting tourism in Kashmir.
On being asked why the TWG meeting was being organized in Kashmir, Singh noted that India isn't a small, homogeneous country and that holding G-20 events across the nation, including Kashmir, would provide the delegates with an idea of the environment there.
"We are not a small, homogeneous nation like some countries in Europe. We are a diverse country," Singh, who is a Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office and also a Member of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir union territory, added.
China Says 'Firmly Opposes' Any G-20 Meetings in Kashmir
Singh's remarks regarding China's absenteeism from the G-20 meeting in Srinagar came after Beijing chose to skip the meeting as it was being held on "disputed territory".
"China firmly opposes holding any form of G-20 meetings on disputed territory. We will not attend such meetings," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference in Beijing last week.
While India's neighbors term Jammu and Kashmir as "disputed territory", New Delhi has repeatedly opposed the territorial claims, maintaining that Kashmir is an "inalienable" part of India.
Currently, different parts of Kashmir-Ladakh region are administered by India, Pakistan, and China, with Beijing controlling Aksai Chin area while Pakistan is in possession of another Gilgit and Baltistan area along with western parts of Kashmir.
The erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir now exists as a union territory administered by the federal government of India.