Officials said Beijing is expected to provide assurance that Indian citizens transiting through Chinese airports will not “be stopped or harassed arbitrarily.”
The Indian government said on Dec. 8 that it had told citizens to exercise caution when traveling and transiting through China after an Indian passenger was detained by Chinese border officers at Shanghai airport last month.
“We expect that the Chinese government and officials will provide assurance that Indian citizens transiting through Chinese airports will not be targeted in any manner, nor will they be stopped or harassed arbitrarily,” Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, told a regular briefing.
“The Ministry of External Affairs advises Indian nationals to exercise appropriate caution when they are traveling to or transiting through China,” he said, according to a translation provided by the ministry.
Prema Wangjom Thongdok, an Indian citizen residing in the UK, was traveling to Japan for a holiday when she was stopped by a Chinese border officer at a Shanghai airport on Nov. 21, according to Indian media reports and her social media posts.
According to Thongdok, Chinese immigration authorities took issue with her birthplace on the passport, Arunachal Pradesh, an India-administered state that the Chinese communist regime has sought to claim.
“When I tried to question them and ask them what was the issue, they said, ‘Arunachal is not part of India,’” she said in an interview with local media Asian News International (ANI) on Nov. 24.
The Chinese immigration officers then mocked and laughed at Thongdok, saying “things like ‘you should apply for the Chinese passport, you’re Chinese, you’re not Indian,’” she told ANI.
In an X post on Nov. 23, Thongdok said she was held at the airport for more than 18 hours.
@pemakhandu @kirenrijuju @PMOIndia I was held at Shanghai airport for over 18 hrs on 21st Nov, 2025 on claims by China immigration & @chinaeasternair They called my Indian passport invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh which they claimed is Chinese territory. @cnnbrk
— Pema Thongdok (@wang_pem) November 23, 2025
When asked about the incident on Nov. 25, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said its border inspection authorities “carried out procedures in accordance with laws and regulations.”
“Zangnan is China’s territory,” Mao told reporters, using the Chinese name for the Indian state. She said the regime has “never recognized the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally set up by India.”
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in a Nov. 26 statement, rejected the Chinese regime’s claim.
“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and this is a self-evident fact,” Jaiswal said. “No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality.”
By Dorothy Li
