The United States recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and “strongly opposes” any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by China across the Line of Actual Control, said State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.
The statement from the Biden administration official followed days after the Chinese military reiterated its claim over the northeastern state. This followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the region, during which he launched several development projects.
Earlier this week, the Chinese defence ministry reiterated its claim over Arunachal Pradesh, referring to the Indian State as “Zangan.”
“Zangnan is China’s inherent territory, and China never recognises and firmly opposes India’s illegal establishment of the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’,” said spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defence Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang on March 15.
Patel, in response to a query during a daily press briefing on Wednesday (local time), said, “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.”
India has consistently rejected China’s territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral and inalienable part of the country.
The Ministry of External Affairs in an official statement on Tuesday said that the people of Arunachal Pradesh will “continue to benefit” from India’s development programmes and infrastructure projects.
“We have noted the comments made by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry advancing absurd claims over the territory of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity,” said the official spokesperson of MEA, Randhir Jaiswal.
“Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Its people will continue to benefit from our development programmes and infrastructure projects,” the statement added.
(Input from ANI)
