On March 12, 2024, India came down heavily on the Peoples Republic of China for raising objections to PM Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh. “Arunachal was, is and will always be an integral part of India”, the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said strongly rejecting China’s objection.
The primary objection came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on March 9, 2024 to inaugurate the Sela Tunnel and other developmental projects. The Sela Tunnel is an all-weather strategic link for Tawang and Kameng districts near the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Built at a height of over 13,000 feet, the 1.5km Sela tunnel that operationalised on the weekend is expected to aid development in border villages and allow for quick deployment of troops and military hardware at the boundary with China, amidst continuing tensions and four-year standoff by with the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).
The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Chinese side has been made aware of this consistent position on several occasions. “Objecting to such visits by Indian leaders to Arunachal Pradesh or India’s developmental projects in the state does not stand to reason. We reject the comments made by the Chinese side regarding visits of Prime Minister to Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.
The Peoples Republic of China on March 11, 2024 said it lodged a diplomatic protest with India over PM Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh last week. It reiterated its claim over the region by saying “India’s moves will only complicate the unresolved boundary questions and disrupt the situation in border areas between the countries, the Chinese MFA spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a briefing in Beijing referring to Arunachal Pradesh as “Zangnan” as Chinese territory.
“China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the Indian leaders visit to the East Section of China-India boundary,” Wang added.
Referring to the India-China border dispute, where India and China’s representatives have not met since the LAC standoff in April 2020, Wang said it was yet to be solved. “India has no right to arbitrarily develop the area of Zangnan in China,” he claimed in a strongest such statement on a visit by the PM although China has protested Indian leaders visit to Arunachal Pradesh several times in the past as well.
Jaiswal said China’s objections to such visits will not change the reality that the state will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a conference and said that the Indian Army is equipped to give a befitting reply to anyone who casts an evil eye on country’s borders.
“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,” he added. “Further, it will not change the reality that the State of Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be an integral, in alienable part of India,” Jaiswal said.
