INDIA. Mumbai: India and China have been engaged in a war of words over Beijing’s remark that the Arunachal Pradesh has been illegally established by India and China oppose the visit of Indian Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, to the area concerned.
Naidu visited Arunachal Pradesh on October 09 and also addressed the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly. He was in AP as part of his tour to the north eastern states of India.
However, in a statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that “
China’s position on the China-India boundary issue is consistent and clear-cut. The Chinese government has never recognized the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh” established unilaterally and illegally by the Indian side and firmly opposes the Indian leader’s visit to the area concerned. We urge India to respect our major concerns, stop acting in a way that complicates & expands the boundary issue, refrain from undermining mutual trust & bilateral relations, maintain peace & stability in the border area and work for sound & steady development of the relations”.
In response to a media query about Lijian’s comments, India’s Union Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “We have noted the comments made today by the Chinese official spokesperson. We reject such comments. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. He said Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India. Objecting to the visit of Indian leaders to a state of India does not stand to reason and understanding of Indian people”.
On the current situation at Line of Actual Control, Bagchi stated that the current situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas has been caused by unilateral attempts of the Chinese side to alter the status quo in violation of the bilateral agreements. “Therefore, we expect the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols rather than trying to link unrelated issues,” he said.
India and China have been engaged in a border dispute for the last 17 months.
Last week, India and China military talks to end border dispute did not result in resolution of the remaining disputed areas with the Chinese not agreeable to “constructive suggestions” provided by the Indian delegation.
China claims up to 90,000 sq km in Arunachal in the eastern sector, while India sees China as illegally occupying 38,000 sq km in Aksai Chin in the western sector. While recent tensions have been focused on Ladakh in the western sector, both sides have also had recently face-offs in Uttarakhand, in the middle sector, and last week near Tawang in Arunachal, where some Chinese soldiers of a large patrol were detained for a few hours by the Indian Army after a minor face-off near Yangtse.
However despite tension over border issues and restrictions on Chinese firms, bilateral trade between China and India has witnessed continuous growth in the first nine months of 2021, and it is expected to expand further.
According to reports, China’s General Administration of Customs on Wednesday stated that bilateral trade in goods between China and India reached $90.38 billion in the first nine months, up 49.3 percent every year. Similarly, China’s exports to India went up by 51.7 percent to $68.46 billion.
