03-13-2024 09:28:06

MUMBAI (Reuters) – India on Tuesday rejected China's objections to the prime minister. Narendra Modiduring a weekend visit to Arunachal Pradesh, said that the northeastern border states have always been an “integral and inalienable part of India”.

The Indian Foreign Ministry's comments came a day after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing strongly opposed Modi's activities in the region and had lodged a diplomatic protest with India.

Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday to inaugurate infrastructure projects, including a tunnel that will provide all-weather connectivity to the strategically located Tawang border area.

It is hoped that this tunnel will ensure faster and smoother troop movements in the border area.

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet. New Delhi rejects this claim, saying Arunachal Pradesh has always been part of India.

“Indian leaders visit Arunachal Pradesh from time to time, just like they visit other states in India. “Opposing such a visit or India's development plans is unreasonable,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs.

“Moreover, this will not change the fact that the State of Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”

The two nuclear-armed neighbors share a 3,000-kilometre (1,860-mile) border, much of which is poorly demarcated. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in 2020 in clashes elsewhere along their border in the western Himalayas.

The two armed forces have since strengthened their positions and deployed additional troops and equipment along the border, after being uneasy neighbors for decades following a bloody border war in 1962.

Last year, China escalated tensions with India by giving Chinese names to 11 sites in Arunachal Pradesh.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by YP Rajesh and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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