Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu today took strong exception to China's objection to prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the state, saying that country should "accept the reality" and refrain from laying claim to the state.
In a statement, Khandu hoped that China would accept the reality and refrain from laying claim on the hilly tribal state which graduated to electoral democracy in 1975. "Between the two visits of prime minister Manmohan Singh last year and this year, several central ministers including then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence Minister AK Antony had reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of India and that no power on the earth can snatch it away from India," he said.
Khandu pointed out that president Pratibha Patil also visited the state to endorse the stand of the Union government.
The Centre had also reacted strongly to Chinese objection to Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, saying the comments were disappointing as the state is an inalienable part of the country and such remarks do "not help" the process of talks on boundary issue.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu had said that China is "strongly dissatisfied with the visit to the disputed region by the Indian leader disregarding China's serious concerns". Khandu said that China had no business to poke its nose in the internal affairs of Arunachal Pradesh which was an inalienable part of India.
"China should refrain from making any further claim on the territory of Arunachal Pradesh which has a constitutionally elected government and is represented by three MPs in Parliament.
"Arunachal wants good relations with all neighbours across the international borders. Both sides should make efforts to reopen border trade through traditional routes for mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence," Khandu said.
"The prime minister came to address a ruling Congress rally at Pasighat in central Arunachal on October three where he reiterated the UPA government's commitment to develop the state giving a firm timeframe for important projects including the 1840km trans-Arunachal highway from Tawang in the west and Kanubari in the east, under a huge package he had announced here for the state last year," he said.
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