China today expressed "strong" dissastisfaction over PM Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh during electioneering.
Ten days after the event, China today expressed "strong" dissastisfaction over prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh during electioneering.
"We demand the Indian side address China's serious concerns and not trigger disturbance in the disputed region so as to facilitate the healthy development of China-India relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.
"China is strongly dissatisfied with the visit to the disputed region by the Indian leader disregarding China's serious concerns," Mas said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
He noted that China and India had "never officially settled" demarcation of their border, and China's stance on the eastern section of the China-India border was "consistent and clear-cut".
Singh had toured and addressed an election rally in Arunachal Pradesh on October 3.
Recently, China had blocked part of a loan to India from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for developmental projects in Arunachal Pradesh. China also protested a visit to the state last month by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.
India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.
China earlier this year had also taken objection to Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, and had informally protested.
Singh visited Arunachal on January 31 and February 1 this year, a few days after returning from a trip to China.
Singh's reference to the state as "our land of the rising sun" at a public rally was objected to by China.
China apparently saw it as India's assertion of its claim on Arunachal, which it claims is a "disputed territory".
Responding to China's objection the then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said: "Arunachal is an integral part of our country... Therefore, it is obvious the prime minister will visit any part of the country".
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