New Delhi: India’s consistent position has been that Arunachal Pradesh and the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are its integral parts and it has been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, the External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday.
Responding to a query in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said Beijing disputes the international boundary between India and China.
“In the Eastern sector, China claims approximately 90,000 square kilometers of Indian Territory in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Indian Territory under the occupation of China in the Union Territory of Ladakh is approximately 38,000 square kilometers,” he said in a written reply.
“In addition, under the so-called China-Pakistan ‘Boundary Agreement’ signed between China and Pakistan on March 2, 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 square kilometers of Indian territory in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to China,” he added.
“India’s consistent and principled position is that Arunachal Pradesh and the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are and shall be an integral part of India. This fact has been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions,” Muraleedharan said.
