Hours after China raised red flag over the visit of United States Ambassador Richard Verma to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, India on Monday rejected all of Beijing’s objections saying there was nothing unusual about the American envoy’s visit to a State which is an integral part of the country. Raising objections to Verma’s visit to Tawang, Beijing said this will make India-China territorial dispute more complicated and sabotage peace in the region.
“The US Ambassador visited Arunachal Pradesh, a state which is an integral part of the country to which he is accredited. There is nothing unusual in it,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Verma had on Saturday visited Tawang on the invitation of Arunachal Chief Minister Pema Khandu to attend the cultural festival in his home State. This is the first time an American envoy visited Arunachal, which China claims as its territory for being part of Southern Tibet. China not only protests any American or other foreign dignitary’s presence in the region, it also has complains whenever Indian Presidents, Prime Ministers and Defence Ministers have visited the State. China has in the past given stapled visas to the residents of the State leading to strong protest from India at diplomatic level.
Tawang is also the birth place of the 6th Dalai lama. In a move that will further irk China, Chief Minister Khandu has invited the present 14th Dalai lama, Tenzin Gyatso, to visit Tawang in March.
“We have also noted that the place visited by senior US diplomatic official is a disputed region between China and India. We are firmly opposed to his visit,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman lu Kang told a media briefing in Beijing.
“China’s position on eastern section of the China-India boundary is very clear and consistent. The two countries are now trying to resolve territorial disputes through negotiations and consultations,” he said referring to the Special Representatives mechanism headed by National Security Advisers of both countries to find a solution. Both sides held 19th round of Special Representatives’ talks to resolve the disputes over the 3,488-km line of Actual Control (lAC).
“Any third party with a sense of responsibility should respect efforts made by China and India for peace reconciliation and tranquility rather than the opposite. The behaviour by the US contrasts the efforts made by China and India. It will only make the dispute more complicated, disturb the hard-won peace and tranquility of border areas and sabotage peaceful development of the region,” lu said.
“We urge the US to stop its interference in the boundary issue between China and India and make more contribution to regional peace and stability,” he added while saying the boundary question between China and India is very complex and sensitive and interference by a third party will only stir up or heighten tensions.
“At the end of the day only the people of the two countries will fall victims. We believe India and China as two major countries have enough wisdom to properly to deal with this issue and safeguard the fundamental interest of the two peoples,” lu said.