Beijing: China on Monday continued to claim that Arunachal Pradesh is part of its territory, notwithstanding India dismissing Beijing’s claim as “absurd” and “ludicrous”.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian reiterated China’s claim reacting to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s assertions on Saturday, dismissing China’s repeated claims on Arunachal Pradesh as “ludicrous” and that the frontier state was a “natural part of India”.
“This is not a new issue. I mean China has laid claim, it has expanded its claim. The claims are ludicrous to begin with and remain ludicrous today,” Jaishankar said in response to a question on the Arunachal issue after delivering a lecture at the prestigious Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). “So, I think we’ve been very clear, very consistent on this. And I think you know that is something which will be part of the boundary discussions which are taking place,” he said. Lin, replying to a question from the official media seeking his reactions to Jaishankar’s comments, said the border between India and China has never been settled.
