Home Minister Amit Shah visited Arunachal Pradesh to launch a village welfare programme
India has rejected comments by China over Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying such objections do not change the ground reality. China had firmly opposed Mr Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, claiming his visit to the area was a violation of Beijing's territorial sovereignty.
"We completely reject the comments made by the Chinese official spokesperson. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. Objecting to such visits does not stand to reason and will not change the above reality," he said.
The Foreign Ministry's statement echoed what the Home Minister said at the launch of a village welfare programme in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, some 11 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and 40 km from the India, China and Myanmar tri-junction.
"Gone are those days when people could encroach into our land. Now, they cannot even take a pin's tip worth of our land," Mr Shah said.
Last week, China "renamed" some places in Arunachal Pradesh that it claims as part of its territory.
"Zangnan is China's territory," Chinese spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in response to a question on the visit by Mr Shah. "The Indian official's visit to Zangnan violates China's territorial sovereignty, and is not conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the border situation," Wenbin said.
India has always maintained that Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of the country, and China giving its own inventive names will not change the ground reality.