Dismissing the “absurd claims” made by China over the territory of Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 19, asserted that the State “was, is and will always be” an integral and inalienable part of India. This response follows the recent Chinese Defence Ministry statement, calling Arunachal Pradesh an “inherent part of China’s territory”.
The Chinese military’s comments came in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state earlier this month. “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,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
‘INALIENABLE PART OF INDIA’ The MEA statement said that it was in response to media queries on comments made by the spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry regarding Arunachal Pradesh. “Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity. 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,” MEA spokesperson said.
The Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang said that the southern part of Xizang (the Chinese name for Tibet) is an inherent part of China’s territory, and Beijing “never acknowledges and firmly opposes” the “so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India”, official media in Beijing reported.
Zhang made the remarks in response to India’s enhancement of its military readiness through the Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, according to a report posted on the Chinese Defence Ministry’s website on Friday. China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to the state to highlight its claims. Beijing has also named the area as Zangnan.
New Delhi has also dismissed Beijing’s move to assign “invented” names to the area, saying it did not alter the reality. Earlier this month, PM Modi addressed the Viksit Bharat Viksit North East Program in Itanagar. Modi laid the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth about Rs 55,600 crores in Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
However, evidently geopolitical tensions between India and China are escalating and exacerbating each passing day. Where the former is protecting its territorial sovereignty and integrity and the latter is hell bent on ruthless territorial expansion.
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