The government on Monday said India expects China to provide assurances that Indian citizens transiting through Chinese airports will not be selectively targeted, arbitrarily detained or harassed, and regulations governing international air travel will be respected by Beijing.

External affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal was responding to a question at the weekly briefing on whether India had any advisory for its nationals transiting through Chinese airports in the wake of a native of Arunachal Pradesh being detained for more than 18 hours at Shanghai International Airport last month.

"The MEA would advise Indian nationals to exercise due discretion while travelling to or transiting through China," Jaiswal said with regard to the specific question while also articulating India’s expectation that China would provide assurances that Indians transiting through their airports would not be targeted the way Prema Wangjom Thongdok was detained at Shanghai airport on November 21 on the ground that her Indian passport was "invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh".

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

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 the incident came to light, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning iterated that Zangnan (the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh) is China’s territory. Mao said the Shanghai airport checks were carried out "in accordance with laws and regulations".