For the second successive day, China has protested Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh on Friday, calling the journey a breach of consensus that had been reached between the two countries on the boundary issue.
On Saturday, China’s Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin called in Ashok Kantha, India’s Ambassador to China, “to lodge stern representation” on Prime Minister Modi’s visit to “a disputed border region,” Xinhua reported. Mr. Liu expressed “strong dissatisfaction and staunch opposition” to the Indian side’s insistence on arranging the visit by its leader to the disputed area on the China-India border.
The report said the Chinese embassy in India “lodged representation” with the Indian authorities on the visit.
During the meeting, Mr. Liu pointed out that “the act by Indian side undermined China’s territorial sovereignty, right and interests.” He reiterated that the Chinese government “has never recognised the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ unilaterally set up by the Indian side.”
Mr. Liu observed that India’s action “artificially amplified differences between the two countries on the border issue and thus went against the principles and consensus that the two sides reached on properly addressing the issue.”
On previous occasions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has maintained that Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Ping had reached an “important consensus” on the border issue.
Mr. Liu hoped that the Indian side would treasure the sound momentum in the growth of bilateral relations, march toward the same goal with China and abide by the “important consensus” on the border issue. He called on the Indian side “not to take any action that may complicate the border issue and stick to the general orientation of resolving the issue through negotiations to maintain the overall growth of bilateral relations.”
He emphasised that China places importance on developing relations with India. He said the two countries share broad prospects on cooperation at various levels.
