‘Not Helpful In Normalising Ties’: India On China’s Detention Of Arunachal Woman In Shanghai

Prema Wangjom Thongdok said Chinese immigration officers questioned her Indian identity and held her for hours. (IMAGE: LINKEDIN)

The External Affairs Ministry on Wednesday said that actions like the detention of Arunachal Pradesh’s Prema Wangjom Thongdok at Shanghai Pudong Airport.

The ministry’s spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that Chinese behaviour with Prema, who leads IFPR reporting and prudential work for ACA Group in the UK, in Shanghai airport where airport staff along with immigration officials mocked her nationality and said her visa cannot be accepted, “does not help the process of normalising ties”.

Randhir Jaiswal highlighted that both nation had worked together after October 2024 to establish peace and tranquility at the borders. India has always maintained that relations with China can only grow if there is tranquility in the border.

Prema was travelling to Japan via Shanghai earlier this month and faced harassment over her Indian visa at the hands of Chinese officials. Speaking to news agencies on Monday, she demanded strict action against the officials and urged that the issue be raised at an international forum.

After she raised the issue, Indian officials on Monday lodged a strong demarche with China, stressing that Arunachal Pradesh is an “indisputably” Indian territory.

“They called my Indian passport invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh which they claimed is Chinese territory,” Prema had said.

She also narrated her ordeal on social media.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the allegations, saying the actions were in accordance with the regulations and reiterated China’s claim over Arunachal Pradesh.

India then rejected China’s response to the detention and asserted that the border state is an integral part of the country.

“We have seen statements made by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the arbitrary detention of an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh, who was holding a valid passport and was transiting through Shanghai International Airport on her onward travel to Japan,” Randhir Jaiswal said.

“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and this is a self-evident fact. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality,” he said.