India’s Jaishankar hits back at China over ‘baseless’ Arunachal Pradesh claims; ‘changing name doesn’t....’

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday (Apr 1) took a dig at China over its claims on Arunachal Pradesh stating that changing names would not have any impact on the fact that the northeastern state is, was and will always be a part of India.

"If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be a state of India. Changing names does not have an effect," Jaishankar said while addressing a press conference in Gujarat.

"Our army is deployed at the Line of Actual Control...," added EAM.

Jaishankar's remarks came following China's claim where it dubbed the Indian State as Zangan and called it an "inherent part of China's territory".

"Zangnan has been China's territory since ancient times. This is an undeniable fact,"said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defence.

The Chinese Defence Ministry released a statement saying that Beijing "never acknowledges and firmly opposes" the "so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India."

After this, India rebuffed Beijing's "baseless arguments" and "absurd claims" and asserted that the northeastern state was an "integral and inalienable part of India."

US opposes China's claims on Arunachal Pradesh

Earlier, the United States had condemned China over its claims on the northeastern state and said that it "strongly opposes" any attempts made by Beijing to advance territorial claims across the Line of Actual Control.

“The United States recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control,” said State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.

The Ministry of External Affairs in an official statement also noted that the people of Arunachal Pradesh will “continue to benefit” from India’s development programmes and infrastructure projects.

“We have noted the comments made by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry advancing absurd claims over the territory of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity,” said the official spokesperson of MEA, Randhir Jaiswal.

“Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Its people will continue to benefit from our development programmes and infrastructure projects,” the statement added.

(With inputs from agencies)