On Tuesday (19th March), India rejected the “absurd claims” and “baseless arguments” made by China on Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the northeastern State of India is an “integral and inalienable part of India.” The Ministry of External Affairs said that the people of Arunachal Pradesh will continue to benefit from India’s development plans and infrastructure projects.
“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,” said the official spokesperson of MEA, Randhir Jaiswal.
“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 statement added.
Our response to media queries on comments made by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry regarding Arunachal Pradesh:https://t.co/tCzhr8MG3C pic.twitter.com/MS86ssZbM9
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 19, 2024
Notably, on the 15th Match, the Chinese defence ministry again tried to claim the Indian state, referring to it as “Zangnan- an inherent part of China’s territory”.
“Zangnan is China’s inherent territory, and China never recognizes and firmly opposes India’s illegal establishment of the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’,” spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defence, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang said.
The Chinese military’s comments came a few days after India sent out a strong rebuttal to China for the latter’s comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
In an earlier statement, MEA noted that China’s objection to visits by Indian leaders or India’s developmental projects “does not stand to reason”.
“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. Objecting to such visits or India’s developmental projects does not stand to reason,” MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on 12th March.
“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. The Chinese side has been made aware of this consistent position on several occasions,” the spokesperson added.
PM Modi on 9th March this year virtually inaugurated the strategic Sela Tunnel during an event held in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. The tunnel has been constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) at an altitude of 13,000 feet on the road connecting Tezpur, Assam, to Tawang in the West Kameng district near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
India has time and again denied China’s territorial claims on its Northeastern state, stating that the state is an integral part of the country. New Delhi has also criticised Beijing’s move to give “invented” names to the territory, claiming that it does not change the facts. Notably, despite having no legal claim over Arunachal Pradesh, China has ‘named’ the territory “Zangnan”.
(With inputs from ANI)
