'Our brave Indian soldiers don't reply to raining of bricks with mere sticks, they do so with iron rods'
"China's position on the Zangnan region (South Tibet) is consistent and clear. We never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing while responding to a question.
China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Sunday released standardised names of 11 places for Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls "Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet".
He was tied and blindfolded while in the custody of China's People's Liberation Army for more than a week, the father alleged.
Two super high altitude firing ranges were made available to the armed forces for the practice of various kinds of weapons and surveillance equipment in Arunachal Pradesh within an aerial distance of 50 kilometres from the highly sensitive Line of Actual Control, sources said.
China on Monday criticised Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, stating that it violated Chinese sovereignty over the area, a claim outrightly dismissed by India.
A defence ministry public relation officer from Tezpur on Sunday said the Chinese army has communicated to India that they have found a missing boy from Arunachal Pradesh.
The teenager, identified as Miram Taron, was abducted by the PLA from Lungta Jor area under Siyungla area on Tuesday.
India on Thursday strongly rejected China renaming 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that the state has 'always been' and will 'always be' an integral part of India and that assigning 'invented' names does not alter this fact.
The deployment of the army in all sectors along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between India and China, is 'robust, well poised and prepared to deal with any emerging contingency'.
Shah is in Arunachal Pradesh to attend the 34th Statehood Day function and launch a number of projects related to industry and roads, officials said.
Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate the individual on their side and return him as per established protocol, sources noted.
The Indian Army has deployed a significant number of easily transportable M-777 ultra-light howitzers in mountainous regions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, military officials said on Thursday.
A village built by China along the Line of Actual Control in the Arunachal Pradesh sector and mentioned in a recent Pentagon report, is in territory controlled by that country, sources in the security establishment in New Delhi said on Tuesday.
The Indian Army guards the Line of Actual Control -- India's border with China -- along with the ITBP.
The 19-year-old Miram Taron of Jido Village in Upper Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh was found missing on January 18.
India says the State of Arunachal Pradesh is its integral and inalienable part.
General Officer Commanding-in Chief of the Eastern command, Lieutenant General R P Kalita, however, said the Indian side is also continuously upgrading its infrastructure and capabilities to deal with any situation which may arise along the border.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project. It will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world's most geologically active areas, according to the Chinese official media.
China is set to build a rail link connecting Xinjiang province with Tibet, part of which will run near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.
The agreement was to disengage from remaining standoff sites along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), two days before a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
Sources said the incident took place around July 25.
Asked for his reaction to the allegation of the PLA abducting Taron, the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing said, "I don't know the situation."
Rajnath Singh asserted that India has every capability to thwart challenges along the border to protect the country's territory.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has launched an ambitious plan to build 50 mini hydropower projects along the border with China for electrification of remote villages that are facing challenges of poor connectivity and mountainous terrain.
"They are likely to intimate date and time soon. Delay attributed to bad weather conditions on their side," Rijiju wrote on Twitter.
The five youths had gone missing on Friday from the Sino-Indian border in the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.
'There was a wrong policy of government during the Congress regime. They didn't construct roads up to the border which left a buffer zone of 3-4 km which China occupied. Construction of new villages isn't a new thing, it's all inherited from Congress'
The move bears significance in view of the increased Chinese activities along the border and transgressions by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Sitharaman visited forward army posts in remote Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China on Sunday to take stock of the defence preparedness.
A powerful senatorial committee on Wednesday is set to consider a bipartisan resolution to recognise Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, pushing back against China's military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control.
After the Chinese People's Liberation Army troop buildup at the Line of Actual Control, the border separating India and China, the Indian Army has beefed up the 1,300 km-long LAC in the eastern sector in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.
The envoy's "Tawang visit highlights resolute US support for Indian sovereignty and commitment to local partnerships", Alice G Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asia, said in a tweet on Wednesday.
The ministry of external affairs said India has conveyed its "consistent position" on the issue to China on several occasions.
The Indian Army is effecting a major "reorientation" and "rebalancing" of its troops in the strategically sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, with a top general saying its overall combat readiness in the region is of a "very high order."
Border personnel meeting between Chinese and Indian border troops was held on the Chinese side near Bumla in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Gandhi said he is with the family of the missing boy Miram Taron, and will not lose hope.
The incident came to light when two members from the group of youths, who went hunting in the jungle, returned home and informed the families of the five that they were whisked away by the Chinese troops from Sera-7, an Army patrol zone located about 12 km further north of Nacho.
Singh, accompanied by Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande, also carried out a comprehensive review of India's military preparedness along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh and lauded the troops for guarding the border with "unwavering commitment and unparalleled courage."
How does blatantly claiming Indian territory help to maintain 'peace in border regions', is a mystery that only China can explain, notes Claude Arpi.
