‘Construction in Our Own Territory’: China on Arunachal Village

Village construction is approximately 4.5 kilometres within the Indian territory of the de facto border.

Kaho village in Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district is also known as the last village on Indian territory.

(Photo: Irani Sonowal Lepcha/ Eastmojo)

China on Thursday, 21 January, said the construction of village in Arunachal Pradesh was within its own territory and its sovereign right. Responding to the report, which showed rows of houses in Indian territory, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the territory is under Chinese control since 1959, reported The Hindustan Times.

“First, I would like to tell you that China’s position on the eastern sector of the China-India boundary, or Zangnan (the southern part of China’s Tibet), is consistent and clear. We have never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established on Chinese territory,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

“China’s normal construction on its own territory is entirely a matter of sovereignty,” Hua added.

NDTV had on Monday, 18 January, reported that “China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh”. Satellite images accessed exclusively by NDTV had reportedly shown that the new village consists of approximately 101 homes.

NDTV had reportedly procured those images from Planet Labs Inc.

Expert analysis of satellite images from 1 November 2020, according to NDTV, confirms that the construction is approximately 4.5 kilometres within the Indian territory of the de facto border.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).