A tableau of Arunachal Pradesh state throughout the Republic Day parade along Kartavya Path in New Delhi, India, on Friday,Jan 26,2024 India’s Republic Day marks the anniversary of when the nation’s nonreligious constitution entered into result in1950
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China knocked the United States for interfering in its border conflict with India, after Washington stated it acknowledged the challenged Arunachal Pradesh as a part of Indian area.
“China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this,” Chinese Foreign Ministry representative Lin Jian stated Thursday at an interview inBeijing “The China-India boundary question is a matter between the two countries and has nothing to do with the US side.”
The reaction follows the U.S. on Wednesday declined China’s “unilateral attempts” to advance its territorial claims, weighing in on a spat in between New Delhi and Beijing after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a tunnel in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
It is the most recent in an intensifying conflict in between surrounding India and China, which share a 3,500 kilometer border.
China, which describes the area as Zangnan, claims Arunachal Pradesh becomes part of southernTibet India turns down those claims, mentioning Arunachal Pradesh has actually constantly belonged of India.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department weighed in on the matter.
“The United States recognizes 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,” representative Vedant Patel stated.
The LAC is a separation that separates India- managed area from that managed by China.
China on Thursday repeated its claims over Arunachal Pradesh, stating: “Zangnan has always been China’s territory, a basic fact that is undeniable.”
“It is known to all that the US has consistently spared no efforts to provoke and take advantage of other countries’ conflicts to serve its selfish geopolitical interests,” Jian included.
U.S. assistance for India in the border conflict is a “reflection of consistent U.S. efforts to fully align itself with India in its competition with China,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center informed CNBC.
Kugelman explained that the U.S. normally avoids discussing some Indian border disagreements, such as the one with Pakistan over Kashmir.
But in this case, he stated, Washington is signifying its uniformity with New Delhi– “in the same way that it has made efforts, including through intelligence-sharing, to help India deter Chinese aggressions on its northern border.”
India-China border stress warm up
Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the “Sela Tunnel”– the world’s longest bi-lane tunnel developed at an elevation above 13,000 feet, which lies in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, setting off sharp reactions from Chinese authorities.
Border stress in between India and China have actually increased in the last few years. In a significant escalation in 2020, a clash in between the 2 sides eliminated 20 Indian soldiers and 4 Chinese soldiers. Last year, China relabelled 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh, a relocation highly opposed by India.
Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, deputy director general of the Information Office of China’s Ministry of National Defense stated in a declaration days after the roadway tunnel inauguration that “China never recognizes and firmly opposes India’s illegal establishment of the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh.'”
Last week, China’s defense ministry repeated its claim over the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
India’s foreign ministry today reacted to Zhang’s remarks, stating Arunachal Pradesh “was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”
Randhir Jaiswal, India’s foreign ministry representative stated in a main declaration that the Chinese Defense Ministry made “absurd claims” over the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh and “repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity.”
On the U.S. defending India, Harsh V. Pant, vice president for research studies and diplomacy at Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi- based think tank, stated: “It shows how far India-U.S. relations have come.”
“Even when it comes to the matter, which has been very sensitive, such as the India China border dispute, the U.S. today is openly standing with India,” he informed CNBC.
— CNBC’s Naman Tandon added to this story
