China's claim on Arunachal Pradesh "outrageous", says newly appointed German Ambassador to India, Philipp Ackermann.

By Apekshita Sonowal

Dr Philipp Ackermann, German Ambassador to India who recently presented his credentials to President Droupadi Murmu held his first press briefing yesterday, August 30 in New Delhi.

In the press briefing, Dr Philipp while talking about the ongoing tension between India and China, calls China’s claim at Arunachal Pradesh “outrageous” and that the border infringement issue at the China-India border is extremely difficult and should not be accepted. He further says that transgressing the borders is a violation of international law and highlighted the difference in dimensions between China’s transgressing at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We should not forget that China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of China, which is outrageous in a way. And therefore, I think and we see very clearly that the infringement at the border is extremely difficult and should not be accepted”, states Dr Philipp.

“But one should also be able to differentiate what happens at the border with China has nothing to do with what happens in Ukraine. China doesn’t hold 20% of the Indian territory, China is not destroying systematically every village, every town in the area they hold [as Russia has]. This is, by dimension, is completely different of what we see at the border. On an abstract level, the transgression is a violation of International law," said Dr Ackermann.

The German envoy further compares the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the Nazi German invasion of Poland during the beginning of World War II, to which, he said, “in my lifetime, I would have not thought it would have been possible”, highlighting, “I think the Indian side well recognizes this problem of violation of international law. Basically, this is also an Indian problem — you have it on your northern border, something you have been experiencing every couple of years.

“When we talk with the Indian state, there is an understanding…that international order must be held up and preserved,” added the envoy.

Earlier, the spokesperson of the Defence Ministry of China, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Senior Colonel Tan Kefei said, it firmly opposes any third-party interference in the boundary issues of China and India in response to the India-US joint military exercise in the Southern foothills of the Himalayas, code-named “War Exercise” (Yudh Abhyas) to be conducted in October close to the LAC.

In the press conference, Dr Ackermann also discussed Indo-German partnership in climate, business & innovation other than discussions on the Russian war in Ukraine and Indo-China border issue.

 Source- WION