The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated on Wednesday that Beijing’s actions are “unhelpful” to continuing attempts to normalize ties, a day after India rejected China’s justification for holding an Indian national from Arunachal Pradesh at Shanghai airport. The comments follow claims made by Pema Wangjom Thongdok, an Indian citizen living in the UK, that her three-hour layover on November 21 became a traumatic experience when Chinese immigration officials deemed her passport “invalid” because it listed Arunachal Pradesh as her birthplace.
Traveling from London to Japan, Pema Thongdok claimed she was stopped, interrogated, and unable to board her next flight. Speaking at the weekly briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that such capricious measures “are most unhelpful towards efforts made by both sides to build mutual trust and understanding and gradually move towards normalization of bilateral relations.”
“No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality,” he said, reiterating that Arunachal Pradesh is a “integral and inalienable part of India.” The MEA emphasized that the general growth of India-China relations still depends on preserving peace and tranquility along the border.
According to Jaiswal, limited people-centric engagement has begun since both sides have tried to stabilize the situation in border districts from October 2024. Through a friend in the UK, Pema was eventually able to get in touch with the Indian Consulate in Shanghai, according to officials. Together with the local authorities, the consulate offered the stranded passenger “the fullest assistance.” Pema Khandu, the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, described the occurrence as “a violation of international norms and an affront to the dignity of Indian citizens” and expressed his “deep shock” at China’s treatment of an Indian citizen on Tuesday.
Thongdok, an Indian woman from Arunachal Pradesh who now resides in the UK, claims she was detained for eighteen hours when traveling through Shanghai Pudong Airport after authorities declared her Indian passport to be “invalid” due to the fact that it identified Arunachal Pradesh as her birthplace. Prema Thongdok, who is in her 30s, has spent 14 years living in the UK.
Her family still resides in Rupa, in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, where she was born. On November 21, she was traveling from London to Japan, with a three-hour stopover in Shanghai. She works as a financial advisor in the UK. She claimed to have gone through the same airport without any problems in the past.
