India Blooms News Service, 3 Jan 2024

New Delhi/IBNS, Jan. 3 -- India has raised an objection and conveyed its protest via diplomatic channels to China after Beijing announced two counties, parts of which come under the Union Territory of Ladakh, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

On December 27, Chinese state media Xinhua reported that the government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region announced the establishment of two new counties in the region - He'an County, and Hekang County.

The counties were approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the State Council, which will be administered by Hotan Prefecture, Xinhua reported.

Addressing the media, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said parts of the "so-called counties" fall under Ladakh, and India "never accepted illegal Chinese occupation of Indian territory in this area".

"Creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's long-standing and consistent position regarding our sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China's illegal and forcible occupation of the same. We have lodged a solemn protest with the Chinese side through diplomatic channels," he said.

The county seat of He'an is Hongliu Township, while the county seat of Hekang is Xeyidula Township, Chinese state media reported.

The Chinese government, under Xi Jinping, greenlit the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra in Tibet, just 22 km from India's Arunachal Pradesh, raising concerns in riparian states India and Bangladesh.

Stated to be the world's biggest infrastructure project, the dam will be built in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for Brahmaputra. The cost of construction is likely to surpass one trillion yuan ($137 billion).