"China may repeat its baseless claims...": India lambasts Beijing on Arunachal Pradesh

In response to a query during a weekly media briefing on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, "Our position on the matter has been made very clear on Arunachal Pradesh time and again. We have recently also issued statements in this regard. I think a couple of statements."

"China may repeat its baseless claims as many times as they want. That is not going to change the position. Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India," he added.

Randhir Jaiswal's statement comes days after China again came up with its claim over Arunachal Pradesh.

Terming the Indian State as "Zangan--an inherent part of China's territory," the Chinese Defence Ministry said that Beijing "never acknowledges and firmly opposes" the "so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India."

Following this, India once again rejected the "absurd claims" and "baseless arguments" while asserting that the northeastern state is an "integral and inalienable part of India."

In an official statement, MEA noted that the people of Arunachal Pradesh will "continue to benefit" from India's development programmes and infrastructure projects.

On March 23, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stressed on Saturday that the north-eastern state is part of India.

While referring to Beijing's claims as "ludicrous", the EAM said that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India because it is a part of the country, and not only because a foreign country says so.

During his visit to Singapore, EAM Jaishankar spoke at the Institute of South Asian Studies of the National University of Singapore on his book 'Why Bharat Matters'.

Responding to a question during the event, Jaishankar said, "This is not a new issue. China has laid claim, expanded its claim. The claims are ludicrous to begin with, they remain ludicrous today. And Arunachal Pradesh is part of India because it is part of India, not because some other country says it is part of India."

"So, I think we have been very clear, very consistent on this. And this is something that will be part of the boundary discussion which are taking place," he added. (ANI)