On Monday Beijing for the fourth time this month asserted its claim on Arunachal Pradesh and accused Bharat of illegally occupying what was a part of China. Two days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dismissed Beijing’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh as ludicrous a spokesperson of President Xi Jinping’s government reiterated that the area had been under the effective administrative control of China before being illegally occupied by Bharat.
Beijing alleged that Bharat had established the so-called Arunachal Pradesh on China’s territory in 1987 after illegally occupying it. China had issued a statement at that time firmly opposing it, emphasizing that Bharat’s move had been illegal and invalid, Lin Jain , a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the communist country’s government told journalists in Beijing. ‘China’s position has not changed’, he added, rejecting New Delhi’s claim that the state was always a part of India.
Lin was replying to a question from a journalist on Jaishankar’s recent comment rejecting China’s on the northeastern state of Bharat.
‘This is not a new issue. I mean China has laid claim, it has expanded its claim. The claims are ludicrous to begin with and remain ludicrous today’, Jaishankar said after delivering a lecture at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) in Singapore on Saturday. He was replying to a question on the latest round of war of words between Bharat and China on Arunachal Pradesh.
Comments