New Delhi: The verbal tit-for-tat over Arunachal Pradesh continued for another day as the Indian external affairs ministry rejected objections from the Chinese defence ministry regarding the construction of infrastructure projects in the north-eastern state.
Last week, the Chinese foreign ministry protested a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Arunachal Pradesh, where he had inaugurated several infrastructure projects, including the Sela tunnel.
On Monday (March 18), the Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang at a regular media briefing asserted in response to a query about the Sela pass that “Zangnan” – the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as ‘South Tibet’ – is a part of Chinese territory.
In response, India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated its dismissal of China’s remarks.
“We have noted the comments made by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry advancing absurd claims over the territory of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity,” he said on Tuesday (March 19).
Jaiswal added: “Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Its people will continue to benefit from our development programmes and infrastructure projects.”
The Chinese side had also claimed that the current situation at the border was “stable” but that Indian actions were “contrary to the efforts of both sides to ease the border situation and are not conducive to maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas”.
“Currently, the overall situation in the China-India border areas is stable, and both sides maintain effective communication through diplomatic and military channels to address border issues of mutual concern,” said the Chinese spokesperson.
There has been no official comment from the Indian side on media reports that India was deploying 10,000 soldiers to the India-China border.
