China’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s weekend visit to Arunachal Pradesh was dismissed by India on Tuesday, with the northern border state having long been seen as “an integral and inalienable part of India.”
The remarks from the Indian foreign ministry were made the day after Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, stated that Beijing had diplomatically protested India’s actions in the disputed territory and was adamantly against Modi’s actions there.
On Saturday, Modi traveled to Arunachal Pradesh to officially open infrastructure projects, such as a tunnel that will connect the strategically important border town of Tawang to the state across all weather conditions.
It is anticipated that the tunnel will provide more rapid and seamless army movement in the frontier area.
Arunachal Pradesh is allegedly a portion of southern Tibet according to China. Declaring that Arunachal Pradesh has always been a part of India, New Delhi disputes the assertion.
Arunachal Pradesh is occasionally visited by Indian leaders during their trips to other Indian states. Speaking out against these trips or India’s development initiatives is irrational, according to India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal.
The fact that the state of Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and always will be an essential and inalienable component of India will not be altered, either.
The 3,000 km (1,860 mi) border between the nuclear-armed neighbors is largely unmarked.
In conflicts further along their border in the western Himalayas in 2020, at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers lost their lives.
Both armed forces have strengthened their positions and positioned additional personnel and equipment along the border because they were unhappy neighbors for many years following a violent border conflict in 1962.
China gave 11 sites in Arunachal Pradesh Chinese names last year, inflaming relations with India.
