India has lodged a “solemn protest” with China over the establishment of two new counties in the Hotan prefecture, said the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday.

“Parts of jurisdiction of these so-called counties fall in India’s Union Territory of Ladakh,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a press briefing. “We have never accepted the illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area.”

The statement came after Chinese news agency Xinhua on December 27 reported that authorities in the northwest Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region had declared the formation of He’an County and Hekang County in the Hotan prefecture, The Hindu reported.

This prefecture, known as Khotan in India, contains parts of Aksai Chin that India asserts are part of its territory.

“Creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's long-standing and consistent position regarding our sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China's illegal and forcible occupation of the same,” Jaiswal said on Friday.

The foreign ministry spokesperson also said that New Delhi had consistently raised concerns with Beijing about the mega hydropower project it is building in the Yarlung Tsangpo river, which is the Tibetan name of the Brahmaputra, that flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

On December 26, Xinhua reported that the Chinese government had approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo.

The dam is set to be built at a gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh, according to The Indian Express.

“As a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of the river, we have consistently expressed, through expert level as well as diplomatic channels, our views and concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory,” Jaiswal said.

“These have been reiterated alongwith the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries following the latest report,” he added. “The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.”

New Delhi would continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect its interests, said Jaiswal.

The statements on Friday came weeks after Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Beijing, in what was the first meeting of the special representatives of the two countries in five years.

Following the December 18 meeting, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Doval and Yi provided “positive directions” for the resumption of border trade, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and data sharing on trans-border rivers.

The two drew on the “learnings” from the four-year military standoff between the two sides along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh to discuss measures to maintain peace on the border, the ministry said in a statement.

Border tensions between India and China escalated in June 2020 when a violent face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control. It led to the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers. Beijing said that the clash left four of its soldiers dead.

Following this, both countries deployed thousands of troops along with heavy artillery in the region.

Since the Galwan clashes, China and India have held several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to resolve their border standoff.

On October 21, the two countries announced that they had reached a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control, “leading to the disengagement” of the two militaries in eastern Ladakh.

Two days later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping also held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia.