China on Monday said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh was “not conducive to peace and tranquility of the region”. Sitharaman on Sunday had visited forward Army posts in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh to take stock of the defence preparedness. This was her first visit to the state as the defence minister.

Hua Chunying, the spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, told reporters on Monday, “We hope the Indian side would work with the Chinese side to continue to make contribution to properly resolve the boundary issue through dialogue and create an enabling atmosphere and condition for this.”

The India-China border covering the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control is a disputed territory. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, and had renamed six places in the state in April after Beijing lodged protests with India over the Dalai Lama’s visit to the North Eastern state. “You must be very clear about China’s position,” said Hua. “There is a dispute in the eastern section of the China India boundary.”