India Considers China's Claim Over Arunachal Pradesh State Unreasonable

Gandhi Bridge di Jengging, Arunachal Pradesh, India. (Wikimedia Commons/Arunakhal Pradesh)

JAKARTA - India's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday China was making "unreasonable claims" over Arunachal Pradesh, adding the northeastern state bordering China would always be an "integral and inseparable part of India".

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

"Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not give validity to the claim," said Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal, quoted by Reuters, March 20.

He was responding to comments last week made by Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a road tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh on March 9.

Zhang said in a statement that India should "stop taking any actions that complicate the border issue and earnestly safeguard peace and stability in the border region", adding the inauguration of the tunnel "contradicts efforts made by both sides to ease border situation".

It is known that the two neighboring countries that have nuclear weapons share a border area of ​​3,000 km (1,860 miles), most of which does not have clear boundaries.

At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in 2020 in clashes along their border in the western Himalayas.

The militaries of both countries have strengthened positions and deployed additional troops and equipment along the border since the clash. Long before that, the two sides were involved in a border war in 1962.