New Delhi - India Wednesday criticized China for helping Islamabad set up projects in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, a day after a fresh row broke out between the Asian giants over a disputed north-eastern territory.

"We hope that the Chinese side will take a long-term view of India-China relations and cease such activities in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan," India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi.

India's foreign office was reacting to a report by Xinhua news agency on the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to China.

"We have seen the report quoting the president of China (Hu Jintao) as stating that China will continue to engage in projects with Pakistan inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir."

During a meeting with Gilani on Tuesday, Hu mentioned an upgrade of the Karakoram highway connecting China and Pakistan and help with a hydroelectric project in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been at the root of tensions between India and Pakistan, considered an all-weather ally of China.

India and Pakistan administer portions of Kashmir but both claim the region in its entirety. The neighbours have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

Prakash reiterated that Pakistan had been in "illegal occupation" of parts of Kashmir since the countries' independence.

"The Chinese side is fully aware of India's position and our concerns about Chinese activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," he said.

India and China are also embroiled in a long-standing boundary dispute which involves large areas along their 4,000-kilometre border, a bitter legacy of the 1962 war between the two countries.

China occupies part of the disputed Kashmir region, with India accusing Pakistan of illegally ceding it to Beijing.

At the same time, China has laid claim to large parts of India's north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh state, which New Delhi rejects.

The Indian foreign office's comments come a day after India and China sparred aggressively over Arunachal Pradesh.

China had expressed "strong dissatisfaction" over Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state on October 3. In a sharp reaction soon after, Delhi asserted that Arunachal Pradesh was an "integral and inalienable part" of India. (dpa)