The ministry of external affairs on Thursday said China has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal matters.

“The union territories of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir have been, are and would remain an integral part of India. China has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal matters,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

“Arunachal Pradesh is also an integral part of India. This fact has also been clearly conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions, including at the highest level,” Srivastava added.

It is to be mentioned that earlier Rajnath Singh on Monday inaugurated as many as 44 bridges in border areas of Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. About 30 of the 44 bridges commissioned are on the route to the LAC from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

Reacting to this, Zhao Lijian, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said “We stand against the development of infrastructure facilities aimed at military contention along the border area. Based on the two sides’ consensus, neither should take actions along the border that might escalate the situation that is to avoid undermining the two sides’ efforts to ease the situation.”