The United States of America has supported India in its dispute with China over Arunachal Pradesh and said It was an Indian territory. Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel of the United States State Department (the American government’s foreign ministry) said on 20 March 2024 that the United States strongly opposes any attempt to make advance territorial claims across the Line of Actual Control.
This American government’s response came after the Chinese military objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The Prime Minister visited Arunachal Pradesh on 9 March 2024 to inaugurate the strategically important Sela tunnel, the world’s largest twin-lane tunnel.
The 12 km-long Sela tunnel, built at 13,000 feet, will provide all-weather connectivity to the strategically important Tawang area in Arunachal Pradesh and help quickly deploy troops along the border with China.
China considers Arunachal Pradesh part of Southern Tibet. In China, Tibet is called Xizang. It claims that this area belongs to it and has routinely opposed the visit of Indian leaders to it.
To assert its claim, China has named Arunachal Pradesh Zangnan.
India has always dismissed the Chinese claim over Arunachal and has asserted that it was an inalienable part of India.
India shares a 3488 km long boundary with China. Many parts of the boundary between the countries are not defined and disputed. The border dispute led to a war in 1962 between the two countries. After relative peace on the border, there was again a deadly clash in Galwan in June 2020, which led to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers and 4 Chinese soldiers.
The India-China border, the Line of Actual Control (LAC), is divided into three sectors: western, middle and eastern.
There is virtually no dispute in the middle sectors between the two countries, but the eastern and the western sectors are disputed and heavily militarised.
Western Sector
Eastern Sector
India shares a 3488 km border with China that runs along the Union Territory of Ladakh Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
State-wise length of borders
State/Union Territory |
Length(in KM) |
Ladakh |
1597 |
Himachal Pradesh |
200 |
Uttrakhand |
345 |
Sikkim |
220 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
1126 |
Total |
3488 |