'Don't sabotage our talks with India': China hits out at US over Arunachal
Beijing: China admonished the United States on Monday for sending its ambassador in India to a contested stretch of land on the India-China border, warning that a third party's meddling would only complicate the dispute between Beijing and New Delhi.
China claims more than 90,000 sq km (35,000 sq miles) of Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet.
US Ambassador to India Richard Verma posted photos on his Twitter account on October 21 of his recent trip to Arunachal Pradesh, thanking Indian officials for their "warm hospitality" and calling the region a "magical place".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China was "firmly opposed" to the US diplomat's actions, which he said would "damage the hard-earned peace and tranquillity of the China-India border region".
"Any responsible third party should respect efforts by China and India to seek peaceful and stable reconciliation, and not the opposite," Lu told a regular press briefing.
"We urge the United States to stop getting involved in the China-India territorial dispute and do more to benefit this region's peace and tranquillity," he said, adding that China and India were handling the matter appropriately through talks.
“The boundary question between China and India is very complex and sensitive. Interference by a third party will only stir up or heighten tension. At the end of the day only the peoples of the two countries will fall victim,” Lu claimed according to a report.
India would have expected China’s reaction to the Verma visit, because the neighbouring country reacted in a similar manner even when PM Narendra Modi visited Arunachal in February 2015.
Back then, it said there was “huge controversy” in the eastern border region between the two countries.
“China on Friday lodged strong representation with India to express diametrical opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to a disputed zone along the China-India borders,” ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying had said in the statement in February, 2015.
Modi’s visit is not conducive to properly resolving and controlling disputes between the two sides, China had claimed.
China could also interpret Verma’s visit to Arunachal as US support for India in the border dispute. In fact, earlier this year, China had reacted sharply after Craig L Hall, US Consul General in Kolkata, had said that Washington considers Arunachal Pradesh an integral part of India.
