India has strongly reacted to the objection of China to Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. India’s official spokesperson’s Arindam Bagchi responded to Chinese comments on Wednesday by saying that its leaders and people have the right to visit the northeastern state, strongly reiterating that Arunachal Pradesh is and will always be an integral part of India.
“We have noted the comments made today by the Chinese official spokesperson. We reject such comments. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India. Objecting to the visit of Indian leaders to a state of India does not stand to reason and understanding of Indian people.”
“Further, as we have mentioned earlier, the current situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas has been caused by unilateral attempts of Chinese side to alter the status quo in violation of the bilateral agreements. Therefore, we expect the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols rather than trying to link unrelated issues,” said the Ministry of External Affairs.
China objects to M Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh
Earlier in the day, China had objected to the visit of the vice-president of India to Arunachal Pradesh saying that “China doesn’t recognize the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set by India”, reported its state-controlled media Global Times.
China doesn’t recognize the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set by India and firmly opposes the recent visit of #India‘s vice president @MVenkaiahNaidu to the area: Chinese FM spokesperson Zhao Lijian. The area is called Zangnan in China. pic.twitter.com/YHU6kzzYry
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) October 13, 2021
On Saturday, October 9, Naidu paid a visit to Arunachal Pradesh and addressed a special session of the state assembly.
China’s statement came as New Delhi and Beijing failed to make any breakthrough in the 13th commander level discussions aimed at ending the over-a-year-long standoff in eastern Ladakh’s remaining key points.
After deadly clashed in the Pangong lake area on May 5 last year, a military standoff developed in eastern Ladakh.
The long standing India-China impasse
Beijing has claimed Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state, as part of China and showed it on official maps as part of the south Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
The Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has, however, been vigorously promoting infrastructure development and outreach programmes in Arunachal Pradesh, despite China’s constant ‘warnings.’
The Tibetan spiritual teacher Dalai Lama visited the state in April 2017 to attend a ceremony in Arunachal Pradesh, which China strongly opposed. India, on the other hand, has been emphasising to China that Arunachal Pradesh is and will continue to be an important part of India.
During the Doklam impasse, where Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a tense staredown, India had made it clear that it would not be bullied by China under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership.
