China objects to road project in Arunachal Pradesh

China has sharply reacted to India’s plans to build a road along the disputed McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh.

The statement comes in the backdrop of a meeting of top diplomats from the two countries here on Thursday to discuss differences over construction of border infrastructure and patrolling by troops along the de facto boundary between the two countries.

A day after Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, revealed the government’s ambitious plan to build a 2,000 km-long road from Mago-Thingbu in Tawang to Vijaynagar in Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh, Beijing on Wednesday asked New Delhi not to further complicate the boundary dispute.

New Delhi is also set to ask Beijing to stop construction work on a road near the Line of Actual Control at Ladakh in Thursday’s meeting.

“Before the border problem is solved, we hope India will not take any action that could further complicate the relevant issue, so as to preserve the current situation of peace and stability in the border area and create conditions for the final settlement of the border issue,” a PTI report quoted Hong Lei, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese government, as telling journalists in Beijing.
He was reacting to reports on India’s plan to embark on a Rs 40,000 crore project to lay a road through mountainous terrain along the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims to be part of China.

The Cabinet has not yet cleared the project, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is understood to have given his go ahead to assess its feasibility.