Name: Row between India and China after air passenger detained | Global News Podcast
Uploaded: 2025-11-29T06:58:34.000Z
Duration: 9 min 21 s
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Welcome to the Global News Podcast on YouTube where we go behind the headlines of a story and tell you why it really matters.

On this episode, we discuss why one woman's detention in Shanghai has fueled a diplomatic row between Beijing and Delhi.

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Pema Wangjong Thongdok, an Indian citizen living in the UK Was detained by immigration officials while traveling from London to Japan via Shanghai last Friday.

Because her passport lists her birthplace as the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

China disputes India's claim over the region and considers Aruncal its territory, calling it South Tibet.

Now, this is something India firmly rejects.

So why has this area been a subject of such a dispute between two of Asia's biggest countries?

And how likely is it that it's going to be resolved going forward?

To discuss this, I'm joined by our South Asia regional expert, Ambarasan Ethirajan, who joins me down the line.

So, Anbarasan, just give us a bit of background and context as to what's happened.

Now, this Indian woman, she traveled to Japan via Shanghai last Friday.

And Ms. Thongdok says that she was detained at Shanghai Airport without any reason.

And the birthplace mentioned in the passport was Arunachal Pradesh.

And this has been an issue going on between China and India for decades.

And as you said, India claims the arunachalachal Pradesh state.

But China has also been making claims over this territory, and

the two countries fought a brief war in 1962.

Now, this has triggered a diplomatic row between Delhi and Beijing because this made headlines across India and also on social media.

And Ms. Thongdok says that she was detained for several hours.

And then after the Indian consular officials came to the airport and spoke to the Chinese officials, then she was allowed to travel.

And India says that it has always been an Indian territory.

And this was all based on 1914, during the colonial period.

It's called macmahon Line, which China doesn't accept.

Now, this has now triggered another row because the two countries have been having very tense relations from 2020, when there was a clash in the Ladakh region.

And things started improving for the past year when both countries were trying to reset relations.

Now, the Indian Foreign Ministry took strong objection to the detention of Ms.

Thongdok, saying that, you know, the Chinese authorities have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel.

And the Foreign Ministry spokesperson described the detention as arbitrary and said the issue had been taken up strongly with China.

At the same time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry officials are saying that they deny having detained her.

And they say that local laws and regulations were followed.

And at the same time, they also say China never accepted the illegal Arunachal Pradesh because they say it is part of China.

So they claim the whole of Arunachal Pradesh as part of China.

So this has triggered another round of diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

And this is obviously a region which has been disputed for quite some time.

You know it well, you've actually visited it before.

And just talk to us about why it's such a key area in that particular region.

Now we have to understand in this context of broader India, China border tensions and border dispute.

India and China, they are the two big Asian powers.

They share a border of more than 3,400km, starting from in the Ladakh region in the Himalayas, going all the way up to Arunachal Pradesh, close to Myanmar.

And most of it is undemarcated and they have overlapping territorial claims.

So this has led to border frictions over the years.

As I said earlier, there was even a brief border war in 1962 in which China defeated India and then they unilaterally pulled out.

So since then the both sides have held various rounds of negotiations.

If I can recollect, in 1996, one of the talks I was covering in Delhi, so they had like for more than 30 years I've been following this India, China relations, but

you know, the economic growth and both countries were focusing.

So the border issue was put at the back burner for nearly 25 years.

And then it all flared up in 2020, June in the Ladakh region in the northern part of India, where a clash between the two sides killed about 20 Indian soldiers and 44 Chinese troops.

More than 50,000 troops on both sides were deployed and the tensions were running high.

And they also moved heavy weapons along the border.

Now, in the past one year they have been talking and there were several rounds of talks between the two sides.

They say that they have reached an understanding.

But still the troops are there on both sides.

For example, in Arunachal Pradesh, these border posts can be like a bit less than 100 to a few hundred meters.

So they are in an eyeball to eyeball situation.

And I was in Arunachal Pradesh a couple of years ago.

The state has a regional government and they are very much part of India.

And whereas you Just go across the border post.

That is Tibet, where Chinese have master troops.

And they say that, you know, this is part of the southern Tibet.

But what the both countries are saying is that, okay, you know, this is a long running dispute.

This has to go through various discussions and diplomatic level talks.

So the people there, they are normal, getting along with their lives.

But you also see a lot of developmental work.

And both sides are building what they call border villages along Arunachal Pradesh, India as well as China.

One of the areas I went was to me, Gatsby, holy waterfalls.

It considers a very significant religious site.

And it was just on the border between India and China across the macmohan line.

So you always see various troop movements, army trucks going on.

You have several army camps, Indian army camps in these areas.

But then people there, when I speak to them, they were getting along despite this massive presence of two of their biggest armies, people getting along with their regular lives.

And it is also very inhospitable territory.

Some of the areas are more than 13,000, 15,000ft.

And so this has been a, you know, major bone of contention between India and China.

So this women's experience has brought light once again how a smaller issue can trigger even a diplomatic row.

So, Ambras, let's finish off with the relationship between China and India.

The two leaders have seemed to get along when they've met up in person recently.

There seems to be more air traffic flow between the two countries as well.

How likely is this spat going to continue for.

Because it seems as though the two countries are getting along a bit better now.

Yeah, this came as a bit of a surprise for many people because for the past two years both governments have been taking concrete steps to restore ties.

We should not forget that China is one of the biggest trading partners of India.

Several Indian factors, factories, Indian manufacturers that depend on Chinese goods.