A tableau of the state of Arunachal Pradesh during the Republic Day parade along Kartavya Path in New Delhi, India, Friday, January 26, 2024. India’s Republic Day marks the anniversary of the country’s secular constitution coming into force in 1950.
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China has criticized the United States for meddling in its border dispute with India after Washington said it recognized disputed Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory.
“China strongly regrets and strongly opposes this,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Thursday. at a press conference in Beijing. “The China-India border issue is a matter between the two countries and has nothing to do with the US side.”
The response comes after the US on Wednesday rejected China’s “unilateral efforts” to advance its territorial claims, adding to the row between New Delhi and Beijing after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi inaugurated a tunnel in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
It is the latest in an escalating dispute between neighboring India and China, which share 3,500 kilometers border.
China, referred to territory as Zangnanclaims Arunachal Pradesh is a part of southern Tibet. India rejects these claims, stating that Arunachal Pradesh has always been part of India.
On Wednesday, the US Department of State weigh in on the matter.
“The United States recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and we strongly oppose any unilateral efforts to advance territorial claims by invasions or encroachments, military or political, across the Line of Actual Control,” said spokesman Vedant Patel.
The LAC is a demarcation that separates the Indian-controlled area from the Chinese-controlled area.
China on Thursday reiterated its claims over Arunachal Pradesh, saying: “Zangnan has always been China’s territory, a basic fact that is indisputable.”
“It is known to all that the US constantly spares no effort to provoke and exploit other countries’ conflicts to serve its selfish geopolitical interests,” Lin added.
US support for India in the border dispute is a “reflection of consistent US efforts to fully align with India in its competition with China,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told CNBC.
Kugelman pointed out that the US usually refrains from commenting on some Indian border disputes, such as the one with Pakistan over Kashmir.
But in this case, he said, Washington is signaling its solidarity with New Delhi — “in the same way it has made efforts, including through intelligence sharing, to help India deter Chinese attacks on its northern border.” .
Tensions on the India-China border are escalating
Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the “Sela Tunnel” – the world’s longest double-lane tunnel built at an altitude of over 13,000 feet, located in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, sparking strong reactions from Chinese officials.
Border tensions between India and China have risen in recent years. In a major escalation in 2020, a conflict between the two sides killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops. Last year China renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesha move strongly opposed by India.
Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, deputy director-general of the Intelligence Bureau of China’s Ministry of National Defense he said in a statement days after the inauguration of the road tunnel that “China never recognizes and strongly opposes India’s illegal establishment of the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh'”.
Last week, China’s defense ministry reiterated its claim over the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
India’s foreign ministry this week responded to Zhang’s comments, saying Arunachal Pradesh “was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”
Randhir Jaiswal, Ministry of External Affairs of India the spokesman said in an official statement that the Chinese Defense Ministry made “absurd claims” about the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and “repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend any validity to such claims”.
Of the US defense of India, Harsh V. Pant, vice president of studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, said: “It shows how far India-US relations have come.”
“Even when it comes to the issue, which was very sensitive, like the border dispute with India, China, the US today stands openly with India,” he told CNBC.
— CNBC’s Naman Tandon contributed to this story.