NEW DELHI, March 10 � Confirming that India is aware of reports of Chinese Government�s decision not to issue visas to people of Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of External Affairs has said New Delhi has registered its protest with Beijing.
The fact that Arunchal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India has been conveyed to the Chinese side. Government�s position that there should be no discrimination against visa applicants of Indian nationality on grounds of domicile and ethnicity had also been clearly conveyed to the Chinese Government on several occasions, including during the recent visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, last December, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed said in a Rajya Sabha reply to a question by Kumar Deepak Das.
China disputes the international boundary with India in the Eastern sector and claims approximately 90,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in the Arunachal Pradesh.
The Minister further confirmed that China is developing rail links in the border regions opposite India in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) including the proposed extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway line up to Nyinchi.
India and China have established a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity. �A Shared Vision for the 21st Century� was signed during the visit of the Prime Minister of China in 2008. The two sides have established dialogue architecture to discuss cooperation in various fields, including political relations, economics, culture, consular, finance, anti-terrorism, water resources and policy planning, the Minister said.
Replying to a separate question, the Minister clarified that no agreement was signed between India and China after the conflict in 1962.
