'Arunachal Pradesh Integral Part Of India': MEA After China Detains Indian At Shanghai Airport
The MEA informed that it has raised the issue of the detention "strongly" with the Chinese side and authorities there have still not been able to explain their actions.
Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India and China's denial will not change the reality, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.
The statement comes after Chinese authorities detained an Indian woman from the state for over 18 hours, and denied normal transit procedures at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.
The incident, which was already raising diplomatic concerns, was further inflamed by a controversial statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which once again challenged India's sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing claims the so-called 'South Tibet' region as its territory.
"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 and 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. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality," the MEA said in a statement.
The Ministry informed that it has raised the issue of the detention "strongly" with the Chinese side and authorities there have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel.
"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," the MEA said.
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'Part Of China': Arunachal Woman Faces '18-Hour Detainment', 'Harassment' At Shanghai Airport
The passenger, Prema Wang Thongdok, who hails from Rupa in West Kameng district and currently lives in the UK, was travelling from London to Japan on Nov. 21 with a scheduled three-hour layover in Shanghai. Her routine transit turned into a harrowing ordeal.
Thongdok later took to X to detail what happened: "I was held at Shanghai airport for over 18 hrs on 21st Nov, 2025... They called my Indian passport invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh which they claimed is Chinese territory."
Despite carrying all valid travel documents, she was allegedly denied free passage, given conflicting instructions, and only released after prolonged questioning during which she said her documents were repeatedly challenged and invalidated on political grounds.
