India-China should revive trade routes: Apang

Shillong, Dec 19 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang said the traditional border trade routes between India and China should be revived.

Mr Apang's statement assumed significance after Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Yuxi recently claimed that Arunachal Pradesh was ''an integral part of China.'' ''We are optimistic that the friendship between India and China would help either side to improve bilateral relations,'' Mr Apang told UNI at Arunachal Bhawan here.

On China's claim that entire Arunachal Pradesh is ''Chinese territory'', the Chief Minister reiterated that his state was very much an integral part of India and functioning under the Indian constitution.

''Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had also made it clear that Arunachal Pradesh was not only an integral but also inalienable part of India,'' Mr Apang added.

''We will not part with an inch of our territory to China and there nothing to negotiate with them as Arunachal is very much an integral part of India,'' the Chief Minister stated.

There is no security threat from China, he said.

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