China Fumes as India’s Modi Visits Contested Border

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, a contested region that Beijing claims as part of “South Tibet,” has angered China.

“China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the Indian leader’s visit to the East Section of the China-India boundary. We have made solemn representations to India,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a daily press briefing on Monday.

China lodged a diplomatic protest with its neighbor over the visit to Arunachal Pradesh, intensifying tensions over the disputed boundary. The move underscores Beijing’s longstanding claim to the region, and China said that Modi’s actions are complicating the unresolved territorial dispute.

China and India in 1962 fought a bloody war over the question of control over Arunachal Pradesh; since then, New Delhi has maintained control of the region, which is now part of India despite Beijing’s continuing territorial claims over the region.

The diplomatic friction comes amid heightened military tensions between the two Asian giants over their historical land border dispute. China and India are building strategic infrastructure along their shared border to enhance their military advantage as the tensions simmer.

China has in the past protested against Indian leaders’ visits to Arunachal Pradesh to assert its territorial claims over the area, which Beijing calls “Zangnan” in Chinese.

The Chinese and Indian armies have been in an ongoing standoff since June 2020. The standoff has seen the deployment of about 50,000 soldiers on either side of the border.

China and India have held 21 rounds of talks to try and resolve the dispute, with the most recent discussions on February 19 at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh.

Meanwhile, a Chinese defense ministry spokesperson, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, recently commented on the 21st round of talks, saying Beijing hopes India and China will meet halfway.

“China attaches great importance to the military-to-military relations between China and India and hopes that India and China will meet each other halfway, enhance mutual trust, properly handle differences, and jointly maintain peace and tranquility in border areas,” Zhang said, during the defense ministry’s monthly press conference on February 29.

“The area of Zangnan is Chinese territory. The Chinese government has never recognized the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ illegally set up by India and firmly opposes it. The China-India boundary question has yet to be solved. India has no right to arbitrarily develop the area of Zangnan in China,” Wang added.

During his visit last week, Modi on March 9 inaugurated the Sela Tunnel, a strategic infrastructure project designed to enhance all-weather connectivity to the frontier region of Tawang. The construction of the Sela Tunnel began in October 2020.

Built at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the tunnel is celebrated as the world’s longest bi-lane road tunnel at such an elevation. According to military officials, it’s expected to significantly improve the mobility of troops and military equipment along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, according to the Indian news agency Press Trust of India on Tuesday.

India remains steadfast in its position, dismissing China’s objections to Modi’s visit.

“We reject the comments made by the Chinese side regarding the visit of the Prime Minister to Arunachal Pradesh,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“Objecting to such visits or India’s developmental projects does not stand to reason. Further, it will not change the reality that the State of Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”

In December 2023, the U.S. ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, visited Arunachal Pradesh, which came after the last visit to the region by former Ambassador Kenneth Juster in 2019.