'Was, Is, Will Always Be Integral Part Of...': India Dismisses China's 'Absurd Claims' Over Arunachal Pradesh

Dismissing the “absurd claims” made by China over the territory of Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday 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”.

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,” he said.

Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang had 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 had reported.

India has repeatedly rejected China’s territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of the country. 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.