Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Arunachal Pradesh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a significant infrastructure project in Arunachal Pradesh last week. China claims that Arunachal is part of its territory, but India rejected this claim on Tuesday and stated that such claims will not alter the fact that the state is a part of India.
Regarding the strategically important state of Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast, which Beijing has long claimed as “Zangnan” or South Tibet, this was the most recent verbal exchange between the two sides.
India: “We reject the comments made by the Chinese side…”
Top Indian leaders’ visits to the area have long incensed China, but New Delhi usually brushes these feelings under the rug.
“We reject the comments made by the Chinese side regarding the visit of the Prime Minister to Arunachal Pradesh. Indian leaders visit Arunachal Pradesh from time to time, as they visit other states of India,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“Objecting to such visits or India’s developmental projects does not stand to reason. Further, it will not change the reality that the state of Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.
The Chinese side, Jaiswal said, has been “made aware of this consistent position” on several occasions.
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China claims Arunchal saying this…
In response to Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh on March 9 to officially open the Sela Tunnel and other infrastructure projects, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin stated on Monday that the region of “Zangnan is Chinese territory” and that the Chinese government has “never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh.”
Wang, who was responding to a question from China’s state-run media during a regular media briefing, also said the “China-India boundary question has yet to be solved”.
He argued that Arunachal Pradesh cannot be developed arbitrarily by India and that doing so would “complicate the boundary question and disrupt the situation in the border areas.”
Wang added that China has made “solemn representations to India” regarding the Indian premier’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and that it “strongly deplores and firmly opposes” the visit.
The Arunachal tunnel
At a cost of ₹825 crore, the tunnel was constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and remotely inaugurated by Modi from Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. Situated above 13,000 feet, the longest twin-lane tunnel in the world will enable faster troop and equipment deployment to forward areas close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tawang sector. It will also provide all-weather connectivity.
The tunnel is a part of the government’s efforts to modernize the infrastructure along the Ladakh Corridor in the midst of a protracted military standoff with China that started in May 2020. The Ladakh sector has seen the deployment of nearly 50,000 troops by both sides, and India has made it plain that normalization of bilateral relations is contingent upon the establishment of peace and tranquillity in the border regions.
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