New Delhi: After an Indian woman from Arunachal Pradesh was singled out and detained at Shanghai airport in October, resulting in a war of words between New Delhi and Beijing, India on Monday asked China to provide assurances that Indian nationals transiting through Chinese airports would “not be selectively targeted, arbitrarily detained or harassed”. The government advised its nationals to “exercise due discretion while travelling through China”.
Expressing concern over the matter at his weekly media briefing on Monday evening, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “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. The MEA would advise Indian nationals to exercise due discretion while traveling to or transiting through China.”
New Delhi had further said the “issue of the detention has been taken up strongly with the Chinese side, who have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel”.
The MEA had pointed out that the “actions by the Chinese authorities also violate their own regulations that allow visa-free transit up to 24 hours for nationals of all countries”. “We have seen statements made by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the arbitrary detention of an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh, who was holding a valid passport,” New Delhi had said earlier.
She was transiting through Shanghai International Airport on her onward travel to Japan. “Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and this is a self-evident fact,” New Delhi had reiterated.
New Delhi had also told Beijing that this was in violation of the Chicago and Montreal Conventions relating to civil aviation and that “at a time when both sides are working on restoring normalcy, such actions by the Chinese side introduce unnecessary obstructions to the process.”
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