India on Wednesday said actions like the arbitrary detention by China of an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh while transiting through Shanghai International Airport “are most unhelpful” in ongoing efforts by both countries to normalise bilateral relations.

External affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal was responding to a question at the weekly briefing on how the recent case of China detaining an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh would impact bilateral relations, which are currently on the mend after a four-year-long face-off.

“Arbitrary actions by China like this instance of detaining an Indian citizen from Arunachal Pradesh while transiting through Shanghai International Airport are most unhelpful towards efforts being made by both sides to build mutual trust and understanding and gradually move towards normalisation of bilateral relations,” Jaiswal said.

Prema Wangjom Thongdok, an Indian woman from Arunachal Pradesh currently based in the UK, had alleged in a post on X on Sunday that she was detained for more than 18 hours at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport on November 21 on the ground that her Indian passport was “invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh”.

China has long claimed Arunachal Pradesh to be part of South Tibet and issues stapled visas to people from the state to assert this position. Beijing also repeatedly protests visits by key Indian leaders to the border state.

After Prema’s social media post went viral, India issued a demarche (diplomatic protest) to the Chinese side both in Delhi and in Beijing, pointing out that the detention was in contravention of the Chicago and Montreal Conventions relating to civil aviation.

On Tuesday, after the Chinese foreign ministry defended the detention, Jaiswal said: “Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and this is a self-evident fact. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality.”