‘China must respect India’s sensitivities on Arunachal’

“When they rai-sed with us the issue of Tibet and Taiwan, we shared their sensitivities. So, we also want they should understand and appreciate our sensitivities regarding Arunachal,” she said.

The minister also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a “very good equation” with Xi, and hoped that the outcome of this visit would be “substantial and solid”.

“We have a very good relationship with China. I must articulate that our relationship is that of cooperation and competition. But when Prime Minister Modi met President Xi in Fortaleza (Brazil), they had very good equation. I think the outcome of this visit will be substantial,” said the minister, who was presenting a report card on her 100 days in office.

Responding to a question on Modi’s “expansionist” remarks, Swaraj said, “He never referred to any specific country. It was media’s guess. He spoke about 18th century expansionism.” Modi’s remarks of an “expansionist” mindset riled the Chinese official media which said the Indian leader was more “intimate with Tokyo emotionally”.

Responding to criticism that Modi’s visits to Nepal and Japan have not yielded any concrete results, the minister rejected it saying the loan from Japan was in trillions and not in billions like in the past, which was a big achievement.