Exercise discretion while travelling through China: India to its nationals

New Delhi: India on Monday advised its nationals to be careful while travelling to or transiting through China, more than two weeks after a woman from Arunachal Pradesh was allegedly harassed at the Shanghai airport.

New Delhi also said that it expects the Chinese authorities to provide assurance that Indian citizens transiting through Chinese airports will not be “selectively targeted and harassed”.

India also hoped that regulations governing international air travel would be respected by the Chinese authorities.

The Indian national, Pema Wang Thongdok, had alleged that Chinese immigration officials at the Shanghai airport detained her for 18 hours on November 21 during a transit halt after refusing

to recognise her Indian passport as her birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh.

New Delhi had lodged a strong protest with China following the incident.

“We fully share your concern following the recent incident at Shanghai airport that you have cited,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing while responding to a question on the incident.

“We expect the Chinese authorities to provide assurances that Indian citizens transiting through Chinese airports will not be selectively targeted, arbitrarily detained or harassed and that regulations governing international air travel would be respected by the Chinese side,” he said.

Jaiswal said the Ministry of External Affairs would “advise Indian nationals to exercise due discretion while travelling to or transiting through China”.

After India last month protested the alleged harassment of Thongdok, the Chinese foreign ministry rejected the allegations saying the actions were in accordance with the regulations.

In a series of social media posts, Thongdok had said Chinese immigration officials at Shanghai airport detained her for 18 hours on the ground that her passport was “invalid” as her birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh. “They called my Indian passport invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh which they claimed is Chinese territory,” she said.

In its reaction, India said Arunachal Pradesh has been an integral and inalienable part of India.

A strong demarche (a formal diplomatic protest) was made with the Chinese side, in Beijing and in Delhi, on the same day the incident took place.