Expedition by Indian mountaineers on Arunachal Pradesh peak irks China

The nuclear-armed neighbours have had frosty diplomatic ties since 2020

A group of mountaineers have scaled a previously unclimbed peak at more than 6,000 metres above sea level in India’s remote Arunachal Pradesh state. Photo: @PemaKhanduBJP / X

China has called an expedition by a group of Indian mountaineers to an unclimbed and unnamed peak in the remote Arunachal Pradesh state "illegal".

A team of 15 people from India’s National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports scaled the 6,383-metre mountain in the Tawang-West Kameng region along India's un-demarcated border with China on September 21.

The peak, in the Gorichen range of the Himalayas in north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh, borders Tibet, an autonomous region in China. The team named the peak ‘Tsangyang Gyatso Peak’ in honour of the sixth Dalai Lama and Tibetan spiritual leader Rigzen Tsangyang Gyatso.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Thursday called the summit “illegal”.

Arunachal Pradesh lies on the Indian side of the eastern tip of the 4,000-kilometre un-demarcated border. It is claimed by China as part of Tibet region and calls it Zangnan. India said the state has “always been” and will “always be” an integral part of the country.

“Let me say more broadly that the area of Zangnan is Chinese territory, and it’s illegal, and null and void for India to set up the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh” in Chinese territory. This has been China’s consistent position,” Mr Lin told the press in Beijing.

The latest remark comes a day after India and China reportedly made significant progress in resolving lingering issues along the un-demarcated border Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.

The two nuclear-armed neighbouring nations have had frosty diplomatic ties after their troops were involved in deadly clashes in 2020 along part of their disputed border in the Ladakh region. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers died.

Senior military and foreign ministry officials from both nations have held dozens of in-person meetings to iron out bilateral disputes but have failed to achieve their objectives.

Beijing stopped three Wushu players from Arunachal Pradesh from travelling to Hangzhou for the Asian Games in September last year reportedly for carrying Indian passports.

Beijing had also included Arunachal Pradesh in its map and renamed 15 places of the Indian state.