Guwahati, April 17: Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui has told former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi that China is not harbouring Ulfa (Independent) or any other militant outfit from the Northeast and that the Dalai Lama should not have "meddled" in the Sino-Indian affair.
Gogoi said the Chinese envoy had called on him at his residence here yesterday as an old friend and they discussed issues that were of interest to Assam.
"I had asked the ambassador about reports indicating that Ulfa and several other militant outfits were being provided shelter in China but the ambassador denied it and said the reports were untrue. He also said that Ulfa (I) chief Paresh Barua had no role in his visit to Assam," Gogoi told reporters at his residence this afternoon.
Barua is believed to be camping in China's Yunan province and in Myanmar. The rebel group had in 2015 reportedly sought China's "friendship" to help achieve the outfit's aim of a "sovereign" Assam.
The outfit has often supported China on several issues, fuelling talks of China helping the Ulfa (I) or the latter doing the bidding of the neighbouring country whose ties with India are strained over several factors, including the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan spiritual leader's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh was strongly opposed by China.
Last September, Ulfa (I) had issued a statement opposing a growing demand for ban on the use of Chinese products in the country, saying China has always been "friendly to Assam". The outfit had also issued a statement last month, asking the Dalai Lama not to speak against China during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
On the monk's recent visit to Guwahati, Gogoi quoted Zhaohui as saying that the Dalai Lama should not have "meddled in China's affair with India".
Gogoi said the ambassador suggested that the governments of Assam and China should discuss their perennial issues with each other. "China is interested in building better ties with India. It is interested in building a China-Kashmir economic corridor on the lines of the China-Pakistan economic corridor, which is under construction," Gogoi said, quoting Zhaohui.
Gogoi discussed with the Chinese ambassador issues such as sharing the Brahmaputra waters and China-Assam connectivity via the historic Stilwell Road.
"I expressed my concern about China constructing hydroelectric power plants over the Brahmaputra and the adverse effects these dams may have on downstream India and Bangladesh. The ambassador said China shares its hydrological information with India and assured me of looking into any adverse effect it may have in Assam," Gogoi said.
"We both supported speedy construction of the Stilwell Road," he added.
The Chinese envoy today visited the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary which has the densest population of one-horned rhino in the world.
