US reaffirms Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory amidst China's claims

A US official has confirmed that Washington acknowledges Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory. This statement comes in response to the Chinese military's assertion that the state is an 'inherent part of China's territory'. 

The United States has expressed strong opposition to any attempts to assert territorial claims across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, Vedant Patel, stated in his daily conference on Wednesday, 'The United States recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory, and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control.'

A US official has responded to a recent statement by Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the Chinese Defence Ministry. Zhang declared that China does not recognise and firmly opposes the 'illegally established' Arunachal Pradesh by India, referring to it as 'Zangnan'. In reaction to this, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, dismissed China's claim as 'absurd' on Tuesday. 

He reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. He added that repeating baseless arguments does not give such claims any validity, and the people of Arunachal Pradesh will continue to benefit from India's development programmes and infrastructure projects.

Earlier this month, China lodged a protest with India over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. During his visit, Modi inaugurated the Sela tunnel, the world's longest bi-lane tunnel, ensuring all-weather connectivity to Tawang, which shares a border with China in the north

Also read: Arunachal: Supreme Court asks CAG to examine government contracts awarded to CM Pema Khandu's kin