India has reaffirmed Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's right to visit its disputed border region with China in the face of objections from Beijing, a report said Saturday. The India-based Dalai Lama is slated to visit next month the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, at the centre of a long-simmering border dispute between the giant neighbours.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India 50 years ago after China crushed an uprising in his Tibetan homeland, is denounced by Beijing as a "splittist" despite his calls for autonomy rather than full independence for Tibet. "The Dalai Lama is a religious figure and he does not indulge in political activities," India's foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said Friday, according to The Indian Express newspaper.
"He is our guest in India and he is free to visit any part of our country," she added. Rao said China's objections to the Buddhist leader's visit had been taken "seriously" but India has been clear about its own position. India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometres (14,700 square miles) of its Himalayan territory, while Beijing claims all of Arunachal Pradesh, which covers 90,000 square kilometres.
"Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India," Rao said. An official of the Dalai Lama in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala, home to the spiritual leader's government-in-exile, said last month the visit to Arunachal Pradesh was "purely religious in nature."
Beijing's objections to the Dalai Lama's trip are the latest in a series of tensions to buffet prickly ties between India and China. The two nations fought a border war in 1962 in which Chinese troops advanced deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicted heavy casualties on Indian troops.
Rao's remarks came after India and China traded diplomatic jabs earlier this month over a visit in early October by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the state. Indian media has reported Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao are expected to meet on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Bangkok. New Delhi has called for Beijing to take a "long-term view" of India-China ties.
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