MUMBAI: India on Tuesday rejected Chinese objections to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s weekend visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying the northeastern border state had always been an “integral and inalienable part of India”.
The Indian Foreign Ministry’s statement came a day after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing was firmly opposed to Modi’s activities in the region and lodged a diplomatic protest with India.
Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday to launch infrastructure projects, including a tunnel that will provide an all-weather link to the strategically located border region of Tawang.
The tunnel is expected to ensure faster and smoother movement of troops in the border area.
China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is part of southern Tibet. New Delhi rejects this claim, saying that Arunachal Pradesh has always been part of India.
“Indian leaders visit Arunachal Pradesh from time to time, just as they visit other states of India. Objections to such visits or Indian development projects are meaningless,” said Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for India’s foreign ministry.
“Furthermore, it does not change the fact that the State of Arunachal Pradesh was, is and always will be an integral and inalienable part of India.”
The nuclear-armed neighbors share a 3,000-km (1,860-mile) border, much of it ill-defined. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers have been killed in 2020 in clashes elsewhere along their border in the western Himalayas.
The two armies have since fortified positions and deployed more troops and equipment along the border as they have been uneasy neighbors for decades after a bloody border war in 1962.
Last year, China raised tensions with India by giving Chinese names to 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
