China has condemned a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a disputed border region which triggered a war between the nuclear-armed neighbors in 1962.
Modi visited the mountainous Arunachal Pradesh state aimed at garnering support for his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of Indian elections due by May.
She urged the Indian leadership to refrain from any action that may “complicate the boundary question” which has remained a sensitive issue despite recent efforts to improve bilateral ties.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet, a remote, high-altitude stretch of the Himalayan border that stoked fears of another war following a 73-day face-off in 2017.
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India shot back, saying Arunachal Pradesh was “an integral and inalienable part of India.”
In 1962, the two Asian giants fought a brief, yet bloody, war over Arunachal Pradesh, with Chinese troops temporarily capturing part of the territory.
In 2017, they were again engaged in a standoff in Bhutan’s Doklam region after the Indian army sent troops to stop the construction of a military road by China.
After a two-month standoff, troops from both sides withdrew and the countries sought to rebuild trust. The 3,500 km border between the nuclear-armed neighbors has been calm ever since.
