By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS
Itanagar : A Chinese protest over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to the border state of Arunachal Pradesh has triggered angry reactions with regional lawmakers terming Beijing’s attitude “uncalled for”.
“The reaction by China is definitely not in good taste. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and would remain so and there are no two opinions on this,” Takam Sanjay, adviser to Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, told IANS.
The reaction comes in the wake of reports of Beijing lodging a “verbal protest” over the prime minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh last week when he had 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.
“It is time New Delhi reacts strongly to such remarks from China. The Indian government must tell explicitly that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and such statements should not be made in future,” T.G. Rinpoche, a ruling Congress party legislator from Lumla, a constituency in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China, said.
“The majority of the people residing along the border with China are Buddhists and everybody here rejects Beijing’s claims,” Rinpoche said.
Beijing had in 2003 gave up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but was still holding on to its age-old stand that a vast stretch of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it.
The mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030 km (650-mile) unfenced border with China.
The India-China border along Arunachal Pradesh is separated by the McMahon Line, an imaginary border which is now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India and China fought a bitter border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicting heavy casualties on federal troops.
The border dispute with China was inherited by India from British colonial rulers, who hosted a 1914 conference with the Tibetan and Chinese governments that set the border in what is now Arunachal Pradesh.
China has never recognized the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 sq km (34,750 square miles) – nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh. India also accuses China of occupying 8,000 sq km (14,670 square miles) in Kashmir.
After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, tension flared up once again in 1986 with Indian and Chinese forces clashing in the Sumdorong Chu valley of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese troops reportedly constructed a helipad in the valley leading to fresh skirmishes along the borders during that time.
“India should not repeat the mistake once again by remaining silent on the Chinese claims as that could encourage the neighbouring country to try and forcibly annex our land,” another lawmaker from Arunachal Pradesh said.