Niti Central
February 23, 2015
This is not the first time that China has reacted angrily to any Indian leader’s visit to the state.
Leaders from different political parties in Arunachal Pradesh voiced their resentment against China’s stance in objecting Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the state on February 20 to attend the 29th Statehood Day celebration.
China reacted sharply to Prime Minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, censuring the move that can go against the attempts by both the countries to resolve the border disputes and to boost the bilateral ties.
Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin had called in Indian Ambassador Ashok Kantha on Saturday to express “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” to the visit.
China’s reaction to Indian leaders visiting the state which they termed as ‘disputed territory’, has always been sharp and negative.
Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Padi Richo today said that Beijing had forgotten that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. “It is a fashion of China to object when President or Prime Minister visit our state,” Richo said.
The state BJP unit also assailed Beijing for objecting to the PM’s visit saying that under any circumstance the neighbouring country cannot oppose the visit of any central leaders to the state. “We are very happy and proud to be Indian and there is no ambiguity in our status,” BJP state president Tai Tagak said.
“A state delegation will visit Delhi soon to take up the issue,” Tagak said reiterating his party’s stand on the issue. “China should give up its expansionist policy because the world of today does not accept it”, Tagak added.
Meanwhile, Arunachal Civil Society (ACS) has also criticised China for its objection to Modi’s visit to the state.
“China has no right to object in the internal affairs of India or term Arunachal Pradesh as disputed zone. The state is the part and parcel of India since time immortal,” ACS chairman Patey Tayum said in a statement.
“Such attitude of China is not new as in 2008 when the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited, they showed the same resentment and claimed Arunachal Pradesh as disputed land besides Southern Tibet,” he added.
China claims the entire territory of the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet. The historic town Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which is also a key site for Tibetan Buddhism, was briefly occupied by Chinese forces during a 1962 war.
The border disputes stem from the very incident of Sino-Indian war in the year 1962 that lasted for a brief period of time but was intense in its impact and preceded a path for a never-ending dispute between both the countries over the territories situated around the Himalayan border. The war ended when both the countries agreed to a line of actual control in 1996 and began talks on settling the dispute. However the occasional reiteration of the subject leaves slim chances to achieve a lasting resolution.
PM Modi’s visit was aimed at propelling growth and development in Arunachal Pradesh. During his visit he flagged off two trains including an AC Express train from Naharlagun to New Delhi and an inter-city express between Naharlagun and Guwahati besides inaugurating the Itanagar Water Supply project and laying foundation of the 132 KV power transmission project.
This is not the first time that China has reacted angrily to any Indian leader’s visit to the state. Their reactions had been equally sardonic during the time when President Pranab Mukherjee, former President Pratibha Patil and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited the state.
