India Reaffirms Arunachal Pradesh as Integral Part of the Country After Chinese Detention Incident

India on Tuesday firmly reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an “integral and inalienable” part of the country, hours after China once again asserted its baseless claim over the territory while defending the harassment of an Indian woman at Shanghai airport. The incident involved Prema Wangjom Thongdok, a UK-based Indian citizen born in Arunachal Pradesh, whose passport was declared “invalid” by Chinese immigration officials during a transit layover on November 21.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning insisted the woman faced no harassment or compulsory measures, while simultaneously repeating Beijing’s long-standing position that “Zangnan (the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh) is China’s territory” and that China “never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set up by India.” The statement came despite clear evidence of the traveller being detained for hours and subjected to repeated questioning solely because her passport listed Arunachal Pradesh as her place of birth.

In a sharp rebuttal, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed China’s territorial assertion as baseless, declaring: “Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and this is a self-evident fact. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality.” He confirmed that India has strongly taken up the detention with Beijing, noting that Chinese authorities have failed to provide any satisfactory explanation for violating international transit conventions and their own 24-hour visa-free transit policy.

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The MEA further highlighted that the actions contravened multiple international aviation agreements and China’s own regulations applicable to all nationalities. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu condemned the episode as “appalling racial mockery,” expressing deep shock at the treatment meted out to a citizen solely because of her birthplace in a state China continues to claim despite overwhelming historical and legal evidence of Indian sovereignty.

China’s persistent attempts to legitimise its claim over Arunachal Pradesh — including renaming dozens of towns and geographical features in recent years — have been consistently rejected by India. The latest incident at Shanghai airport has once again exposed the gap between Beijing’s diplomatic rhetoric and its on-ground behaviour, intensifying bilateral friction over a territory India administers fully and where its citizens enjoy undisputed rights.

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