India has strongly rejected comments made by Beijing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh to inaugurate the strategically important Sela tunnel.
Ministry of external affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal said, “Indian leaders visit Arunachal Pradesh from time to time, as they visit other states of India. Objecting to such visits or India’s developmental projects does not stand to reason. Further, it will not change the reality that the State of Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India.”
China recently claimed that PM Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh would “only complicate” the boundary issue.
“China never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set up by India and firmly opposes it,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing.
“Relevant moves by India only complicate the boundary question. China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the leader’s visit to the eastern section of the China-India boundary,” the Chinese official further said as reported by PTI.
On March 9, PM Modi inaugurated the Sela tunnel, the world’s longest bi-lane tunnel, which connects Tezpur in Assam to Tawang in Arunachal. Built at a cost of Rs 825 crore, the tunnel has been built at an altitude of 13,000 feet. You can also watch our detailed documentary filmed in 2023 through the Sela Tunnel, that hit 300,000+ views on September 28, 2023.
‘Along The China Front: Commanding The Tawang Heights’ Series
Our episode from the Chumi Gyatse waterfalls also got to the 100,000+ views mark in March 2024: Yangtse: How India successfully beat back PLA incursions & where the Indian Army looks down on Chinese Positions. Both documentaries are part of our series, Along The China Front, Commanding The Tawang Heights, filmed and aired in 2023.
China has several times in the past objected to visits by Indian politicians to Arunachal Pradesh. However, India has asserted that the state is an integral part of the country and assigning “invented” names won’t alter reality.
The tunnel makes a critical difference for the military to deploy troops and heavy weaponry to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. It also significantly improves connectivity and economic development in the region. Along with the 500-metre-long Nechiphu Tunnel, the Sela Tunnel provides safe, all-weather strategic connectivity on the Jalipara-Chariduar-Tawang (BCT) Road in West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh.
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
His work has featured in national and international publications like the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Global Times and Ashahi Shimbun. But his one constant over all these years, he says, has been the attempt to understand rising India’s place in the world.
He can rustle up a mean salad, his oil-less pepper chicken is to die for, and all it takes is some beer and rhythm and blues to rock his soul.
Talk to him about foreign and strategic affairs, media, South Asia, China, and of course India.
