'Ladakh and Arunachal are integral parts of India': MEA rebuffs China's claims

The Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and the state of Arunachal Pradesh are integral parts of the country, the Ministry of External Affairs asserted on Thursday, days after the Chinese foreign ministry issued a provocative statement about the Indian territories.

"Our position on this has always been clear and consistent. The union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are, and would remain an integral part of India. China has no locus standi to comment on India's internal matters," MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

He said Arunachal Pradesh is also an "integral and inalienable" part of the country.

"We hope that countries will not comment on India's internal matters, as much as they expect the same of others," Srivastava said.

"Our position on Arunachal Pradesh has been made clear several times. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. This fact has also been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, including at the highest level," he added.

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, while responding to a question about India opening a series of new bridges allowing all-weather access to the border with China, had said that Beijing does not recognise either Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.

He had termed India's attempts to step up infrastructure in border areas as the root cause of tensions between the two countries.

Earlier, too, China had said that it does not recognise the UT of Ladakh “illegally established by India” and had called the abrogation of Article 370 illegal. 

The face-off between the Indian and Chinese armies began on May 5.

The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated following at least three attempts by the Chinese military to "intimidate" Indian troops along the northern and southern bank of Pangong lake area between August 29 and September 8 where even shots were fired in the air for the first time at the LAC in 45 years.

As the tensions escalated further, the foreign ministers of the two countries held talks in Moscow on September 10 where they reached on the five-point agreement to defuse the situation in eastern Ladakh.

The agreement was the basis for the sixth round of Corps commander-level talks.

In the last three months, the Indian Army rushed tanks, heavy weaponry, ammunition, fuel, food and essential winter supplies into various treacherous and high-altitude areas of the region to maintain combat readiness through the harsh winter of around four months beginning mid-October.

With inputs from PTI