MEA rejects China's objection to Vice President Naidu's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, says state is inalienable part of India

India on Wednesday rejected China's opposition to the recent visit of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu to Arunachal Pradesh, saying the state is an integral and inalienable part of India and the Indian leaders routinely travel there "as they do to any other state of India".

Beijing on Wednesday objected to Naidu's recent visit, saying that it is firmly opposed to the Indian leader's visit to the state as it has never recognised it.

Naidu visited Arunachal Pradesh on October 9 and addressed a special session of the state assembly.

Responding to a media query, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson rejected remarks of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian relating to Naidu's visit.

"We reject such comments. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state 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," the MEA spokesperson said.

The MEA spokesperson also referred to a standoff on the resolution of the remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh and said India expects the Chinese side to work towards this rather than "trying to link unrelated issues".

"Further, as we have mentioned earlier, 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," the MEA spokesperson said.

The 13th round of the India-China Corps Commander-level meeting was held at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on October 10.

The Defence Ministry later said that during the meeting, the Indian side made constructive suggestions for resolving the remaining areas but the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals. The meeting did not result in the resolution of the remaining areas in eastern Ladakh.

( With inputs from ANI )

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