EAM Jaishankar Calls China's Claims On Arunachal Pradesh "Ludicrous"

New Delhi: Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar hit out at China on Monday, labelling their claims regarding Arunachal Pradesh as "ludicrous." Jaishankar asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India because it is a part of India, disregarding any country's comment.

While addressing the issue of Arunachal Pradesh at Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that China has raised the Arunachal issue multiple times with their baseless claims. "Arunachal Pradesh is not a new issue. Now China has expanded its claim. The claims were "Ludicrous" to begin with. Arunachal is a part of India because it is part of India not because some other country said it is a part of India, so i think we have always been very clear and consistent on this," EAM said. 

Earlier, Vedant Patel, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, stated that the US recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as an Indian territory and the US is against any unilateral attempts to assert territorial claims through military or civilian incursions across the Line of Actual Control. 

Prime Miniter Narendra Modi's visit to Arunachal and the inauguration of the all-weather tunnel irked the dragon and earlier this week, the Chinese military reiterated its claim over Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang said that the southern part of Xizang (the Chinese name for Tibet) is an inherent part of China's territory, and Beijing "never acknowledges and firmly opposes" the "so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India".

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet and consistently objects to Indian leaders' visits to the region, viewing them as provocations that highlight Indian claims. Beijing has also named the area Zangnan