State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. Videograb: X/StateDeputySpox

The United States recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and strongly opposes any unilateral attempts by China to advance its territorial claims across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a senior Biden administration official has said, days after the Chinese military reiterated its claim over the State following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit there.

Earlier this week, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang said that the southern part of Xizang (the Chinese name for Tibet) is an inherent part of China’s territory, and Beijing “never acknowledges and firmly opposes” the “so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India”.

China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to the State to highlight its claims. Beijing has also named the area Zangnan.

On March 9, Prime Minister Modi dedicated to the nation the Sela Tunnel built at an altitude of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh that will provide all-weather connectivity to strategically located Tawang and is expected to ensure better movement of troops along the frontier region.

Speaking at his daily press conference on March 20, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “The United States recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control.” India has repeatedly rejected China’s territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the State is an integral part of the country. New Delhi has also dismissed Beijing’s move to assign “invented” names to the area, saying it did not alter the reality.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 19 said it has noted the latest comments made by the spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry “advancing absurd claims” over the territory of Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that the State “was, is and will always be” an integral and inalienable part of India.

New Delhi:

The world’s longest twin-lane Sela tunnel was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. The project was necessitated as the Balipara-Chariduar-Tawang road often remains closed due to snow and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in the area.

The foundation stone for the Sela tunnel project was laid by the Prime Minister on February 9, 2019, and the construction work commenced on April 1 of that year.

The tunnel is situated at an elevation of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh and is strategically crucial as is close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). 

The project comprises two tunnels, with the first one being a single-tube tunnel of 1,003 metres in length and the second being 1,595-metre-long, with an escape tube for emergencies. It has 8.6 km-long approach and link roads. In case of emergency, this escape tube can be used for the movement of rescue vehicles and evacuation of stranded people. 

The tunnel has been designed for a traffic density of 3,000 cars and 2,000 trucks per day with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.

The Sela tunnel has been constructed using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) at a cost of Rs 825 crore.

The execution of the mega project took over 90 lakh man-hours with an average of around 650 personnel and labourers working every day for the last five years.

Altogether 71,000 metric tonnes of cement, 5,000 metric tonnes of steel and 800 metric tonnes of explosives were used for the construction of the project.