India has reacted strongly to the comments made by the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry today on Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Replying to a question put by a local TV channel, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that Beijing "firmly opposes the Indian leader's visit" to an area which it has "never recognized".
In response to a media query about Chinese MFA spokesperson's comments, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that objecting to the visit of Indian leaders to a state of India does not stand to reason and understanding of Indian people.
"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. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India," said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
He also made it clear once again 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," said Bagchi.
In spite of New Delhi warning Beijing many times over the past few weeks, the Chinese foreign ministry has not stopped from making provocative statements.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had in his meeting with the Chinese FM last month, emphasised the need to work on issues impacting the bilateral relations.
After making irresponsible comments on the Galwan Valley incident, the Chinese MFA spokesperson had on September 29 made careless comments regarding the border situation.
"We had already made our position clear a few days back that we reject such statements which have no basis in facts. It was the amassing of a large number of troops by the Chinese side, their provocative behavior and unilateral attempts to alter the status quo in contravention of all our bilateral agreements that resulted in serious disturbance of peace and tranquility along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh," India had then said in response.
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