Intrusion comes after visit of head of Tibetan govt-in-exile

China’s latest bid to re-assert its claim over the territory of India in Arunachal Pradesh came just about a month after the visit of the head of the Tibetan Government in Exile, Penpa Tsering, to the frontier state.

New Delhi had facilitated the visit of the Sikyong of the Tibetan Government in Exile – formally known as Central Tibetan Administration – based at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh of India to Arunachal Pradesh and other states in the north-eastern region last month. Tsering had slammed the Communist Party of China for its “brutal and self-serving policies” and repressive rule in Tibet during his visit to the state.

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Tsering had also visited Tawang during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The town at an altitude of about 10000 ft is close to the disputed boundary between India and China and has been at the centre of the territorial dispute between the two neighbouring nations. The area around the town had been among the scenes of the 1962 border conflict between the countries.

Yangtse, where the December 9 clash between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army took place, is just about 35 kilometers away from Tawang.

Tsering’s tour to Tawang and other places in Arunachal Pradesh is believed to be a prelude to a visit by the 14th Dalai Lama to the frontier state of India, possibly in March or April next year.

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The Tibetan spiritual leader had last visited Tawang in April 2017. Beijing had lodged a strong protest with New Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had facilitated the visit of the octogenarian monk to the disputed territory. The stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at Doklam in western Bhutan had started just a couple of months after Dalai Lama’s visit to the 17th century Gaden Namgyal Lhatse monastery in Tawang.

China claims about 90000 square kilometers of territory of India in Arunachal Pradesh as its own.