China says 3 Chinese tourists crossed over to India by mistake

K J M Varma

Beijing, Jan 20 (PTI) China today said that the threeChinese citizens, who were arrested in India without validtravel documents recently, were "tourists" and entered theIndian territory by "mistake".

"In recent days three Chinese tourists crossed over toIndian border by mistake along the India-Nepal border. Theywere detained by Indian police," the Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here while replyingto a question on three detained persons.

"The Chinese Embassy in India is in touch with theIndian police. We urge the Indian side to properly handle theissue", Hong said.

Three Chinese nationals were arrested on January 17 bySashastra Seema Bal personnel for crossing the borderillegally from Nepal and taking pictures of importantinstallations.

Liao Xing, Yu Dangli and Yang Liu were arrested nearRupedhiya border in Uttar Pradesh.