New Delhi [India], December 8 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday sought ‘assurances’ from China that Indian residents transiting via Chinese airports is not going to be ‘selectively focused, arbitrarily detained or harassed’ and that Beijing will ‘respect’ laws governing worldwide air journey.
Addressing the weekly press briefing, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal additionally issued a journey advisory warning Indians travelling to or transiting via China to ‘train due discretion.’
Jaiswal was responding to media queries when requested what the MEA recommends for Indian nationals travelling to or via China after an Indian girl from Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Wangjom Thongdok, was detained at Shanghai Airport for 18 hours final month, with Chinese officers claiming her Indian passport was invalid since Arunachal Pradesh is a part of China.
‘We absolutely share your concern following the latest incident at Shanghai airport that you’ve got cited. We count on the Chinese authorities to supply assurances that Indian residents transiting via Chinese airports is not going to be selectively focused, arbitrarily detained or harassed and that laws governing worldwide air journey can be revered by the Chinese facet,’ Jaiswal stated.
‘MEA would advise Indian nationals to train due discretion whereas travelling to or transiting via China,’ the MEA spokesperson added.
Thongdok was travelling from London to Japan on November 21 with a layover at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, when she was singled out, ‘humiliated’ and detained at Shanghai International Airport after Chinese immigration officers declared her Indian passport ‘invalid’ and mocked her nationality, asserting that ‘Arunachal isn’t a part of India’.
Following the incident, India firmly rejected China’s claims over Arunachal Pradesh, stating that the northeastern state is an ‘integral and inalienable a part of India’, including that no quantity of denial from Beijing can alter the ‘indeniable actuality’.
Jaiswal, in a separate briefing final month, lodged a powerful protest with China over the incident involving Thongdok, calling the detention ‘arbitrary’.
He reaffirms India’s constant place on the matter, noting that the federal government has issued a powerful demarche to China each in Beijing and New Delhi instantly after the incident.
‘We made a press release; you’ll have seen that relating to the arbitrary detention of an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh who was holding a sound passport and was transiting via Shanghai International Airport on her onwards journey to Japan, we need to say that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable a part of India, and this can be a truth which is self-evident; no quantity of denial by the Chinese facet goes to alter this indeniable actuality,’ Jaiswal stated.
‘At the identical time, I stated that we did take up this matter. We did do a powerful demarche with the Chinese facet, each in Beijing and Delhi, when the incident passed off,’ the MEA Spokesperson added.
The MEA, in a press release, additionally strongly rejected China’s remarks relating to the standing of Arunachal Pradesh and expressed grave concern over what it described because the ‘arbitrary detention’ of the Indian nationwide.
It additional stated the matter has been taken up with Chinese authorities at a excessive degree, whereas reiterating that Arunachal Pradesh stays an ‘integral and inalienable’ a part of India.
Meanwhile, China rejected allegations of harassment levelled by Thongdok and acknowledged that ‘the lawful rights and pursuits of the particular person involved have been absolutely protected and no obligatory measures have been taken on her.’ (ANI)