ITANAGAR: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dismissed reports of Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh at an interactive session during an event in New Delhi on Saturday.
He questioned the basis of the recent claims that said China had crossed the border way back in 1959.
Jaishankar clarified that India has a robust patrolling arrangement along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh. "In fact, the patrolling pattern, all this while for the last five to ten years or longer does not exhibit a marked change," he said.
He also said that China has been claiming Arunachal Pradesh as its own for decades and has also renamed many places within the Indian Frontier State.
China went ahead and issued a list of 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh in April with an intention to refurbish its claim over the northeastern state. India strongly countered this move, stating that bestowing invented names on places does not alter the fact that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of the country.
Speaking at the Man ki Baat programme, Jaishankar said political transitions take place in every country, sometimes smoothly and sometimes disruptively.
He emphasized that such changes should be prepared for by fostering strong relationships in foreign policy. The relationships, he said, must be robust, deep, and significant enough to withstand political shifts. His remarks were quoted by ANI.
Going to Pakistan the External Affairs Minister will lead a delegation for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad on October 15-16. The visit would be India's first high-level visit to Pakistan in nearly ten years.
Earlier, China expressed its displeasure over Indian mountaineers naming a previously unnamed peak in Arunachal Pradesh after the 6th Dalai Lama, re-asserting its territorial claims over the disputed area.
This latest development comes after a team from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS) scaled an unnamed and unclimbed 20,942 ft high peak in Arunachal Pradesh.
Following their successful climb, they decided to name the summit after the 6th Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso, who was born in 1682 in the region of Mon Tawang.
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