Dharamsala, October 13 – China expressed strong dissatisfaction on Tuesday over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s weekend visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the northeastern Indian state that shares a 640-mile (1,030-kilometer) unfenced border with China.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Arunachal Pradesh to woo voters ahead of Monday’s assembly elections in the state.
“We demand the Indian side address China’s serious and just concerns and not trigger disturbances in the disputed region so as to facilitate the healthy development of China-India relations,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.
The two countries fought a brief war in 1962 after Chinese forces attacked India’s northern border. Despite 13 rounds of talks to resolve the border issue between the two sides, disputes still exist over demarcation of border.
China claims the region as its territory and never recognized the McMahon Line that designated the region as part of India.
Beijing also expressed its opposition to an upcoming visit in November by the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama. However, Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna said the Tibetan leader is free to go anywhere in India including Arunachal Pradesh provided he does not talk about politics.
