MUMBAI: India said it had registered a strong protest with China over what it said was the arbitrary detention of an Indian citizen at Shanghai Airport.
Indian media reported that a UK-based woman holding an Indian passport was stopped by Chinese authorities during a layover in Shanghai on November 21 and told that her Indian passport was invalid as she was born in the eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Beijing says Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Zangnan, is part of China, a claim New Delhi has repeatedly dismissed.
The woman, Prema Wangjom Thongdok, said she was not allowed to board her onward flight to Japan and was held for 18 hours, according to Indian media.
“Chinese authorities have still not been able to explain their actions, which are in violation of several conventions governing international air travel,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement late on Tuesday.
