India responds to Chinas objections over Amit Shahs Arunachal visit

New Delhi, April 11: India on Tuesday rejected statements by China over Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh and said that such objections do not change the ground reality.

China had strongly protested Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, arguing it breached 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.

"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 further added.

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The Foreign Ministry statement reflected what the Home Minister remarked at the launch of a village welfare programme in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, 11 kilometres from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and 40 kilometres from the tri-junction of India, China, and Myanmar.

"Gone are those days when people could encroach into our land. Now, they cannot even take a pin's tip worth of our land," Amit Shah added.

China "renamed" some locations in Arunachal Pradesh that it claims as part of its territory last week.

"Zangnan is Chinese territory," said Chinese spokesperson Wang Wenbin in answer to a question about Shah's visit. "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."

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