Earlier this week, a three-hour stopover at Shanghai airport was an unpleasantly traumatizing experience for Prema Wangjom Thongdok, an Indian citizen of the UK, belonging to the Arunachal Pradesh state of India.
Travelling from London to Japan on November 21, Prema found herself pulled aside by Chinese immigration authorities, who declared her Indian passport “invalid” solely because it mentioned Arunachal Pradesh as her place of birth.
For hours, she was questioned, blocked from boarding her connecting flight.
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Indian MEA minces no words while slamming China’s wrongdoing
On Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs publicly criticised Beijing’s behaviour. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, during a weekly briefing on November 26 said, “China should very well know that its action do not help the relations between the two countries. We have already said that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. The ground reality does not change at all by their actions, and China should know that,.”
However, China rejected any claim that the woman had been harassed or detained.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, “We learnt that China’s border inspection authorities have gone through the whole process according to the laws and regulations and fully protected the lawful rights and interests of the person concerned. Zangnan is China’s territory. China never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set up by India,” Mao said, reiterating Beijing’s long-standing claim over the state, which it refers to by the Chinese name “Zangnan.”
Notably, this was the second time in two days that Randhir Jaiswal had to publicly remind Beijing of India’s position.
“That Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, is a self-evident fact. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality,” he had said earlier.
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“The issue of the detention has been taken up strongly with the Chinese side. Chinese authorities have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel. The actions by the Chinese authorities also violate their own regulations that allow visa free transit up to 24 hours for nationals of all countries.”
Arunachal Pradesh Chief minister Pema Khandu voiced his anger, saying he was “deep shock” and describing the “racial mockery” faced by Prema as “appalling.”
