NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday dismissed China’s objection to Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, with the external affairs ministry saying that the northeastern state is an integral part of the country. Responding to China’s foreign ministry statement on Monday that Amit Shah’s trip to the state was not conducive to peace in the border areas, external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said objecting to such visits wouldn’t alter the reality of Arunachal Pradesh being an “inalienable part of India”.
“We completely reject the comments made by the Chinese official spokesperson. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India,” Bagchi said.
“Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. Objecting to such visits does not stand to reason and will not change the above reality,” he said.
The terse exchange between the two sides reflected the fallout of the military standoff in the Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has taken bilateral relations to their lowest point in six decades. India’s leadership has made it clear that bilateral ties cannot be normalised without the restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
When Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was asked at a media briefing on Monday about Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh which is claimed by China, he replied that “Zangnan is part of China’s territory”. Wang added, “The activity of the senior Indian official in Zangnan violates China’s territorial sovereignty and is not conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border areas. We are firmly against this.”
{{/usCountry}}When Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was asked at a media briefing on Monday about Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh which is claimed by China, he replied that “Zangnan is part of China’s territory”. Wang added, “The activity of the senior Indian official in Zangnan violates China’s territorial sovereignty and is not conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border areas. We are firmly against this.”
{{/usCountry}}On Monday, Shah said while visiting Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh that India will not allow anyone to take even an inch of its land and border security is the government’s top priority. His remarks came days after China renamed 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing refers to as Zangnan, in a bid to reinforce its claim on the strategic northeastern state.
The external affairs ministry has already dismissed China’s efforts to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh.
Shah, who is on his first visit to the eastern sector of the LAC, also launched the ₹4,800-crore Vibrant Villages programme from Kibithoo, a village that overlooks Chinese posts. He said the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will be provided every facility needed to deal with any threat from across the border.