India cautiously reasserts its claim over Arunachal Pradesh

Continuing its cautious approach towards China, India has reasserted that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India without criticising its neighbour for including Arunachal in its territory in maps. HT reports.

Continuing its cautious approach towards China, India on Saturday reasserted that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India without criticising its neighbour for including Arunachal in its territory in maps.

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Responding to the HT report on the Chinese official map making agency including Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese territory, government sources pointed out the move was in tune with its official policy regarding the eastern state.

“That is why the boundary talks are on to resolve the issue,” said a government source, asserting disagreement with Chinese policy. This is not the first instance of Chinese government agencies have claimed Arunachal in its maps, he added.

The tempered response from Delhi comes ahead of high-level political engagements between the two countries. During these meetings, India would seek to gauge if there has been a change in Beijing’s attitude on issues such as Kashmir.

It is also in this context that the external affairs ministry had turned down a proposal from centrally-run Jamia Millia Islamia to award an honorary doctorate to the Dalai Lama next month.

A fortnight later, external affairs minister S M Krishna will travel to Wuhan for a trilateral meet comprising India, China and Russia.