Form of words:
New Delhi: India on Thursday said it did not accept China’s illegal occupation of its territory nor any unreasonable Chinese claims, in the first official reaction to a Pentagon report that said Beijing has crossed the Line of Actual Control in the Arunachal Pradesh region. Along with this, a big village has been built in the disputed area. ,
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India keeps a constant watch on all developments affecting its security and takes all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He was responding to a question on the US report at a media briefing.
Bagchi said India has also accelerated infrastructure development, including the construction of roads and bridges, in areas bordering China.
“We have taken note of the US Department of Defense’s report to the US Congress, which inter alia referred to construction activities by the Chinese side in the India-China border areas, particularly in the eastern region,” he said.
Bagchi said earlier this year there were reports in the media on the issue.
“As we said then, China has over the past several years started construction activities in areas including border areas that it has illegally occupied for decades,” he said.
“India has neither accepted such illegal occupation of our territory nor accepted unreasonable Chinese claims,” Bagchi said.
Read also: India calls China’s border law a ‘concern’, asks Beijing not to use it to change border status
The spokesperson said that India has always strongly opposed such activities through diplomatic channels and will continue to do so in future also.
“Further, as reported earlier, the government has also stepped up border infrastructure including construction of roads, bridges, etc., providing much needed connectivity to the local population at the border,” he said.
Bagchi said that the government is committed to the objective of creating infrastructure in the border areas to improve the livelihood of its citizens including Arunachal Pradesh.
“The government constantly monitors all developments affecting India’s security and takes all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
In its recent report, the US Defense Department said that China built a large 100-household civilian village inside the disputed area on the eastern side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between its Tibet Autonomous Region and India’s Arunachal Pradesh.
Sources in the security establishment said on Tuesday that the village along the disputed border in Upper Subansiri district is in the area occupied by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) after it captured an Assam Rifles post in 1959.
After the eastern Ladakh standoff last year, India has strengthened its overall military preparedness along the LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector as well.
Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Manoj Pandey said last month that China has increased the intensity of its military exercises and deployment of troops in its deep areas opposite the LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector.
He said that India has prepared a contingency plan to deal with any situation.
Lt Gen Pandey had said that in some areas new villages have come up on the Chinese side of the border and India has taken note of this in its operational strategy.
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