By IANS
New Delhi : India Friday asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an “integral part” of the country and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “can visit any part of India he likes”.
The Indian stand was spelt out by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Mumbai, in reaction to an “informal protest” of China against the prime minister’s Arunachal Pradesh visit last week.
During his visit to Itanagar last week, Manmohan Singh called Arunachal as “our land of the rising sun” – an expression that was not liked by Beijing for obvious reasons.
“The sun kisses India first in Arunachal Pradesh. It is our land of the rising sun. I sincerely hope that like the sun, Arunachal Pradesh will rise from the East as a new star and become one of the best regions of our country,” Manmohan Singh said.
According to an official, junior Chinese officers lodged “an informal verbal protest” to the Indian embassy in Beijing. “There is no formal protest by China as yet,” he said.
The Chinese officials told India that it was not proper to make such comments when the two countries were trying to resolve their decades-old boundary dispute, the source added.
Speaking to the media at the inauguration of an art exhibition at Nariman Point late Friday, Mukherjee said: “Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. It has regularly elected representatives to our Parliament. The prime minister can visit any part of India he likes.”
“We are aware of the stand of China and they are aware of ours,” Mukherjee said.
Ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to India in 2006, the then Chinese ambassador Sun Yuxi re-asserted China’s claim over Arunachal Pradesh that was quickly countered by India.