Itanagar
In a absurd statement on Wednesday Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang stated that China had “never acknowledged” the existence of Arunachal Pradesh.
Shuang’s response came after a media report said that Chinese troops intruded into the Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh for about 200 meters close to a village in upper Siang district.
“First of all on the border issue our position is clear and consistent. We never acknowledged the existence of so-called Arunachal Pradesh,” Geng told a media briefing. However, he was mum over a media report that its troops intruded into the Indian side of the border in the frontier state.
There is a report of Chinese road-building teams entered around one kilometre inside Indian territory in Tuting area of Arunachal Pradesh last week but returned after being confronted by Indian troops, government sources said on Wednesday.
According to local villagers in Arunachal Pradesh, the Chinese team members included civilians as well as uniformed personnel. The sources said on December 28, Indian border patrolling personnel observed few Chinese civilians undertaking track alignment activity one kilometre inside the Indian territory in Tuting area.
The government sources said the road building equipment are lying on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
According to local villagers in Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese soldiers were involved in road construction work in the area and that Indian security personnel intercepted them near Bising village under Tuting subdivision of upper siang district.
“The road cutting is also clearly visible from the right bank of Siang river at Gelling which is about 7-8 km by aerial distance from the site.
When contacted, Upper Siang DC Duli Kamduk said, “Our officials in Tuting subdivision have not reported any Chinese incursion.”
it must be mention here that China claims Arunachal Pradesh is part of South Tibet. The India-China border dispute covered 3,488 km along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
