Row over US envoy’s Arunachal visit
New Delhi: India on Monday dismissed China’s protest against US ambassador’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh while America reiterated that it fully supports New Delhi to bring peace to the troubled region.
China had expressed a resolute protest over a trip by the Richard Verma to Arunachal Pradesh recently to attend Tawang Festival. Beijing had urged Washington not to interfere into the territorial dispute between the two countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Monday.
A spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of the country and that the Ambassador who is accredited to India has every right to visit that state.
“We express our resolute protest over the visit by the US diplomat to the disputed area between India and China… Any third responsible party should respect the efforts taken by India and China for peace and stability and not vice versa. However, US behavior contradicts the China-India efforts,” Lu said at a briefing.
Meanwhile, US Consul-General in Kolkata, Craig L Hall said that the current Indo-US ties are at an all time best.
India has the full support of the US in its efforts to bring peace to the region, he added.
The US envoy sighting how his nation is involved in the regional development of North East India and viewed that the cooperation between Tripura and Bangladesh is a perfect example of how with improved and increased connectivity in various sectors, both can be in a win-win situation.
Earlier, Hall had a discussion on various issues including regional connectivity and economic cooperation.
