The United States on Wednesday (March 20) stated that Washington recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and it opposes any unilateral attempts made to advance territorial claims across the Line of Actual Control.
US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “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.”
The development comes days after the Chinese military repeated its claim over India’s Arunachal Pradesh following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to inaugurate the strategically important Sela tunnel. China describes Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet and repeated the same claim which was subsequently denounced by New Delhi, upon PM Modi’s Arunachal visit recently.
US recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory & we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments military or civilian, across LAC: US state dept on Arunachal Pradesh after China objected to PM Modi’s visit pic.twitter.com/0m1vPLu1bU
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) March 21, 2024
Communist China lays claim to Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang by stating that the sixth Dalai Lama was born there in the 17th century. Beijing claims that the birthplaces of all Dalai Lamas historically belong to China. The People’s Republic of China, however, similarly does not claim Mongolia in its entirety despite it being the birthplace of the fourth Dalai Lama.
New Delhi maintains that Beijing’s claims do not alter the reality in Arunachal Pradesh. India on Tuesday (March 19) said that China was “advancing absurd claims” over Arunachal Pradesh and that the northeastern state “was, is, and will always be” an integral part of India.
