Hours after China lodged its protest over union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) on Thursday said Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.
“Our position on Arunachal Pradesh is clear and consistent. It is an integral part of India,” said Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs.
Amit Shah was on a day long visit to Arunachal Pradesh to participate in its 34th Statehood Day.
Like previous occasions, this time too, China was first to react over Indian minister or politicians visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Also read: China objects to Amit Shah’s Arunachal visit
China terms Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed territory.
“The Chinese government has never recognized the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ and is firmly opposed to the Indian politicians visit to the southern part of China’s Tibet region as it violated China’s territorial sovereignty, undermined stability of the border area, sabotaged political mutual trust, and violated relevant bilateral agreement,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing.
The India-China border dispute covers 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).
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China keeps claiming that Arunachal Pradesh is a ‘part of Southern Tibet’.
Significantly, both the two countries have so far held 22 rounds of special representatives’ talks to resolve the border dispute.
On earlier occasions too China raised similar protest over such visit.