A painting of the state of Arunachal Pradesh during the Republic Day parade along the Kartavia Path in New Delhi, India, on Friday, January 26, 2024. Republic Day in India marks the anniversary of the country's secular constitution coming into force in 1950.
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The United States has rejected China's “unilateral attempts” to bolster its territorial claims, adding to the rift between New Delhi and Beijing after Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened a tunnel in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
This is the latest in an escalating dispute between neighboring India and China, which share a 3,500-kilometre border.
China, which refers to the region as Zangnan, claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet. India rejects these claims, saying that Arunachal Pradesh has always been part of India.
On Wednesday, the US State Department looked into the matter.
“The United States recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory, and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to strengthen territorial claims through incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patil said.
The Line of Actual Control is the demarcation that separates territory controlled by India from that controlled by China.
“I see this statement as a reflection of continued US efforts to fully align with India in its competition with China,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told CNBC.
Kugelman noted that the United States usually refrains from commenting on some Indian border disputes, such as the dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. But in this case, Washington is signaling its solidarity with New Delhi – “in the same way it has made efforts, including through intelligence sharing, to help India deter Chinese aggression on its northern border.”
Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Sela Tunnel – the world's longest double-lane tunnel built at an altitude of over 13,000 feet, which is located in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, sparking sharp reactions from the Chinese. . Officials.
Border tensions between India and China have escalated in recent years. In a major escalation in 2020, a clash between the two sides led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers. Last year, China renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, a move strongly opposed by India. a
“China never acknowledges and firmly opposes India's illegal establishment of the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh,'” Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, deputy director-general of the Information Office of China's Ministry of National Defence, said in a statement days after the opening of the road tunnel.
Last week, the Chinese Ministry of Defense reiterated its claim over the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Indian Foreign Ministry this week responded to Zhang's comments, saying that the state of Arunachal Pradesh “is and always will be an integral part of India.”
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said in an official statement that the Chinese Ministry of Defense made “ridiculous allegations” about the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and “repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not give such allegations any validity.”
Regarding the US standing by India, Harsh V. said: “It shows how far India-US relations have come,” said Pant, vice president of studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.
“Even when it comes to the issue, which was very sensitive, like the border dispute between India and China, the United States today is openly standing with India,” he told CNBC.
CNBC's Naman Tandon contributed to this story.
