India rebuffs China's claim over Ladakh, Arunachal

New Delhi: India on Thursday asserted that the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir have been and will remain an integral part of India and that China has no locus standi to comment on its internal matters.

India's harsher-than-usual message comes days after the Chinese Foreign ministry linked infrastructure development on the Indian side to the five-month-long stand-off in East Ladakh. China's Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian had pointed to the infrastructure development along the border this week and gone ahead to describe the infra push along with military deployment as "the root cause for the tensions between the two sides".

"We hope countries will not comment on India's internal matters as much as they expect the same from others: MEA on China's remarks on Ladakh," said MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava at an online briefing.

"Our position on Arunachal Pradesh has also been made clear several times. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. This fact has also been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, including at the highest level," he said.

China had earlier said it did not recognise the Union Territory of Ladakh 'illegally' set up by India, in response to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurating 44 key bridges built in areas of strategic importance.

India and China have been engaged in a bitter stand-off since earlier this year after 20 Indian soldiers died in clashes with the PLA at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh in June. The bridges inaugurated by India have been built in strategically key areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Most of these bridges are expected to significantly improve movement of troops in areas along the border with China in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors, officials said. Both India and China held a series of diplomatic and military talks to resolve the border standoff. However, no breakthrough has been achieved to defuse the situation.