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How will Arunachal woman's Shanghai ordeal impact India-China ties? MEA responds
UK-based Indian woman was travelling from London to Japan with layover in Shanghai, where Chinese immigration personnel declared her Indian passport “invalid”
India's foreign ministry has underlined that “the ground reality does not change at all” after Chinese officials harassed an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh at an airport in Shanghai by repeating a territorial claim over the Indian province.
“China should very well know that its action do not help the relations between the two countries. We have already said that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. The ground reality does not change at all by their actions, and China should know that,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs, said in response to a question at the weekly MEA briefing on Wednesday, November 26.
China has refuted allegations that the Indian woman, Prema Wangjom Thongdok, was harassed at the Shanghai airport.
Also read | Arunachal woman's message for trolls after Shanghai airport ordeal: ‘We are one nation’
A UK-based Indian citizen, Prema was travelling from London to Japan on November 21 when her three-hour scheduled layover at Shanghai turned into a traumatising ordeal. Chinese immigration personnel declared her passport “invalid” because it listed Arunachal Pradesh as her birthplace.
In a statement on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning claimed the woman was not subjected to any compulsory measures, detainment or harassment.
“We learnt that China’s border inspection authorities have gone through the whole process according to the laws and regulations and fully protected the lawful rights and interests of the person concerned. Zangnan is China’s territory. China never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set up by India,” Mao said, using the Chinese name for the Indian province.
In recent years, China has resorted to renaming dozens of towns and geographical features in the state as part of its efforts to lay claim to the region.
Hitting back at China, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said on Tuesday too: “That Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, is a self-evident fact. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality.”
He had further said, “The issue of the detention has been taken up strongly with the Chinese side. Chinese authorities have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel. The actions by the Chinese authorities also violate their own regulations that allow visa free transit up to 24 hours for nationals of all countries."
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, too, expressed “deep shock” over the incident and said that the “racial mockery” the woman was subjected to was “appalling”.
