Dai Bingguo, who served as the China's boundary negotiator with India from 2003 to 2013, told Chinese media, "If the Indian side takes care of China's concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India's concerns elsewhere."
The Chinese soldiers visited with their families and children and savoured Indian delicacies.
After getting a royal welcome in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang, the Dalai Lama took on China, saying it is usual for the Chinese to oppose his visits everywhere.
Former Foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal on Friday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have visited Tawang during his tour of Arunachal Pradesh in 2008 as this would have sent a clear signal to China that the northeastern state is part of India.
The recent reports of incursions and firing along the India-China border has not deterred spirited tourists who have begun thronging the Buddhist monastry town of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, over which China stakes claim.
'In Chinese perception, India is strategically getting closer to United States and some Chinese analysts fear perhaps one day it may become a part of American arrangements against China.'
India and China will hold the next round of boundary talks soon, but the lingering dispute over the Buddhist enclave of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is preventing efforts by the two countries to "cross the rubicon," National Security Adviser M K Narayanan has said.
Each time an Indian minister visits Arunachal Pradesh, the tinpot Communists in Beijing's Zhongnanhai get worked up and mutter threats.
Ma Jaili also said that if India returns Tawang, a sacred place for Tibetan Buddhists, the Chinese side could be "magnanimous" in settling the border in the Western and Middle Sectors of the disputed boundary.
In what could raise the hackles of China, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has been invited to inaugurate a hospital at Tawang. The External Affairs Ministry may not give permission to the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang. The importance of the Dalai Lama's possible visit to Tawang could be assessed from the fact that the spiritual leader, after the failed uprising against the Chinese, had taken the Tawang route to flee to India in 1959.
The army, with the help of locals, on Thursday brought the bodies of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others from Keyla, where the helicopter with five on board crashed on Saturday last.
China claims that the Buddhist town of Tawang and some other areas of Arunachal Pradesh are part of it. But India has always rejected these claims.
At least two previously unknown incidents of skirmishes between the Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have come to light with citations for gallantry awards conferred on Indian Army personnel mentioning them.
Tawang, after all, only became a part of India on February 6, 1951, when a Naga officer, Major Robert Kathing, leading a platoon of Assam Rifles, was welcomed by cheering Monpas after he crossed the Sela Pass and ordered the people of Tawang to stop paying taxes to the Tibetans. Until then, Tibetan officials had controlled the Tawang tract, a huge chunk of territory protruding south towards Tezpur.
Several people on Twitter also expressed their anguish after the images surfaced.
Braving the winter chill, thousands of Tibetans and locals lined up along the roads leading to the Tawang monastery on Sunday and gave a rousing reception to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who arrived in town on a four-day visit.
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."
As soon as the Question Hour ended, Congress' Leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that a discussion on the 'Indo-China border situation be held', saying late Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had allowed a discussion in Lok Sabha on the India-China war in 1962.
"In 1962, China had captured Tawang and yet it withdrew from it and the rest of Arunachal Pradesh largely to what is the McMahon Line, thereby de facto accepting its validity. In the western sector, it did not go back to the pre-1962 line and retained the fruits of its aggression," former top diplomat Kanwal Sibal has said.
Angry over the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, China on Tuesday said it was 'strongly dissatisfied' with India for allowing the Tibetan spiritual leader to travel to the state, over which it lays claim. On the third day of the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China 'firmly' opposed the trip, which was 'separatist' in nature. "We firmly oppose the Dalai Lama's visit to the region," said a senior official.
The Chinese military on Thursday said the situation along the India-China border 'at present' is 'generally stable' and both sides have maintained 'effective' communication to resolve the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, routinely objects to Indian leaders' visits to the state to highlight its claims. Beijing has also named the area Zangnan.
A grand public reception awaits Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in the bordering hill town of Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, which is located at 10,000 feet from the mean sea level, with the entire town as well the 400-year-old Tawang Monastery wearing a festive look.
India reaction to China protests over the Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is one of studied ambivalence, writes B Raman
Prime Minister Modi on Saturday dedicated to the nation the Sela Tunnel built at an altitude of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh that will provide all-weather connectivity to strategically located Tawang and is expected to ensure better movement of troops along the frontier region.
China on Thursday said it 'firmly opposes' the United States recognition of Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory and affirmed that Washington, DC has nothing to do with the India-China border dispute.
Chinese troops had in July this year damaged a 200 feet stone wall which was built 250 meters inside the Indian territory in Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh, government told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
China has claimed the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh to be part of its territory and its army has also made several intrusions into the region.
China, which is building numerous villages in Tibet close to its borders with India and Bhutan, has held several celebratory events to mark its takeover of Tibet in the new border villages with a mix of border troops and the local population, the official media in Beijing reported.
The government is likely to set up a full-fledged inquiry committee to probe the helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh that claimed 17 lives.
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.
'The Kuki-Zo are aware of this rich resource in their areas and feel the Meitei push for ST status is because of this reason'.
The chief engineer of 'Project Vartak', Brig Raman Kumar told ANI that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is developing and maintaining all road networks in the key border areas of western Assam and western Arunachal Pradesh.
'His presence in Tawang is a silent reiteration that the McMahon Line was and is the border between Tibet and India,' says Claude Arpi.
Zhang made the remarks in response to India's enhancement of its military readiness through the Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, according to a report posted on the Chinese defence ministry's website on Friday.
India has been rejecting China renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of the country and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality.
The move bears significance in view of the increased Chinese activities along the border and transgressions by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The two-day mega exercise is involving almost all its frontline fighter jets and other assets deployed in the region, people familiar with the drill said.
Sources said the exercise is aimed at checking the IAF's overall combat capability and military preparedness in the region.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances