A day after China reacted sharply to Defence Minister A.K. Antony's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India said it took this matter “seriously,” asserting Beijing had “no right” to interfere in its domestic affairs.
Defending Mr. Antony's visit to the northeast State last week, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said on Sunday: “India will not tolerate external interference of China in the Indian territorial affairs.”
‘Part and parcel of India'
Mr. Krishna also reminded China that Arunachal Pradesh was a “part and parcel” of India.
“All seven States in northeastern parts of India are part and parcel of India, and China has no rights to make adverse remarks on Antony's visit to Arunachal Pradesh,” he told reporters.
Remark taken seriously
India has taken the Chinese remarks “seriously” and will take up the issue with Beijing on an appropriate forum, he added.
Mr. Krishna also said it was not Mr. Antony's first visit to the northeastern State.
Reacting sharply to Mr. Antony's visit for its Statehood celebrations, China on Saturday said India should refrain from taking any action that could “complicate” the border issue.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei asked “India to work with China to maintain peace and stability in border areas,” the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday night. China routinely takes exception to any high-level visit of Indian officials to Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims is a part of southern Tibet.
Border talks
Arunachal Pradesh has been a part of the past 15 rounds of border talks by the Special Representatives of the two countries. China also denies visa to people of Arunachal Pradesh.
In a recent case, visa was denied to a senior IAF officer to visit China as part of a defence delegation, prompting New Delhi to scale down the size of the delegation.
I wholly agree with Mr. B. Baburajan. For these border states to be patriotic towards India, you need to focus attention towards these states in terms of development and infrastructure, while preserving their cultural identity. Unfortunately all politicians are interested in vote bank politics, and back door deals, the bane of India.
What was Mr.Krishna saying ,when he was in China?He was saying that
TIBET is an integral part of CHINA.It is historically wrong.This is our
politicians shortsightedness.How long these politicians repeat past
mistakes like Nehru?
People of Arunachal,as a whole, is the natural owner of their own land i.e. Arunchal pradesh. And they them-selves have recognized the political affinity of their land with The Union of India. And no other outside force be it fascist China or else has the right to forcefuly claim the land as their own. China must recognize Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and let us live peacefully.
We have had enough of this and we cannot brook any more. Let China be
made clear of this by our government. It is not enough for our
ministers to merely state this; they need to follow up their
statements with firm actions on the ground. If the blatant
interference of China continues we may have to rethink our stand on
Uighurs and Tibetans. Peace and friendship with China is not a one way
traffic. If the population in Arunachal is sparse, we may have to
think in terms of permitting migration from the adjoining states to
Arunachal Pradesh. More industries that conform to the env ironment of
the region need to be started.
If china continue to take a provocative and aggressive stand on border issues by claiming Indian states as its territory, they should be diplomatically told that India may have to reconsider its past rather reluctant decision (in the 1950’s by Nehru) of accepting the annexation of Tibet in view of the considerable and growing international support for a free Tibet and the brutal force china uses to subjugate the Tibetans.
However, India needs to do an audit of its own situation in the border regions. We have the most underdeveloped communities in these regions most of them classified as adivasis and hill tribes. Because of the underdevelopment and poverty the area has been clamouring for decades for political and governmental attention on their plight. After sixty years of independence we have not made much progress and the region is home for many insurgent groups. If India wants to keep these regions the most important action should be to create a condition in which the quality of life (education, healthcare, infra-structure, job prospects and so on) of these people improves to such an extent that they want to be part of India. India has to restrict the activities of missionaries and foreign NGOs in these sensitive regions. We cannot afford their poverty and ignorance to be exploited by foreign agencies whether in the name of religion or as developmental agents. Any development activity there should be done by the government so that the people’s faith in the Indian Government and the political system will be strengthened. The people in these regions should be made to feel that they want to be part of India. No force in the world can then claim these regions as their’s. Defence minister A K Antony’s speech emphasising the need for development of the region should be understood with the seriousness and urgency it deserves. India can learn from China how it is trying to tackle the unrest in Tibet. In addition to the military force, it is using very fast development of the region as the most effective weapon.
Arunachal is ours. China should see this ground reality. Its protest over our Defense Minister's visit will in no way alter this reality.
Please Email the Editor