China ‘Strongly’ Objects to PM’s Arunachal Visit
Though it’s ten days Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Arunachal Pradesh for election campaign, China has, of late, expressed its ‘strong’ dissatisfaction over the visit.
Reacting to the visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on ministry website that his country “demands the Indian side address China’s serious concerns and not trigger disturbance in the disputed region so as to facilitate the healthy development of China-India relations”.
“China is strongly dissatisfied with the visit to the disputed region by the Indian leader disregarding China’s serious concerns,” statement said.
Noting that China and India had ‘never officially settled’ demarcation of their border, he said that China’s stance on the eastern section of the China-India border was ‘consistent and clear-cut’.
It may be mentioned that prime minister Manmohan Singh had addressed an election rally in Arunachal Pradesh on October 3.
China had recently blocked part of a loan to India from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for developmental projects in Arunachal Pradesh. China also protested a visit to the state last month by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
India says that China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.
