India lodged a formal protest with China after an Indian passport holder was detained at Shanghai Airport and blocked from boarding her connecting flight, the foreign ministry said late Tuesday. New Delhi described the incident as arbitrary and said Beijing had failed to justify its actions.
The case has triggered renewed friction between the two neighbours at a time when both governments are cautiously rebuilding ties after years of icy relations.
Indian media reports said the woman, Prema Wangjom Thongdok, who lives in the United Kingdom and carries an Indian passport, was stopped during a layover on November twenty one. Airport officials reportedly told her that her passport was invalid because she was born in Arunachal Pradesh, a region China claims as its own and calls Zangnan.
Thongdok said she was prevented from boarding her onward flight to Japan and remained in airport custody for about eighteen hours before being released, according to coverage carried by several Indian outlets.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said China had not provided any clear explanation for its handling of the incident. He said the treatment of the passenger “violates several conventions governing international air travel”.
Jaiswal added that India had raised the matter “very strongly” with Beijing and expected a full clarification.
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A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that airport checks were carried out in line with domestic rules. The official offered no direct comment on the allegation that the woman’s birthplace was the reason for the detention.
India and China have argued over Arunachal Pradesh for decades. New Delhi says the state is an integral part of India, while Beijing maintains its claim and often objects to international events involving residents from the region. The disagreement remains one of the biggest points of strain in their relationship.
The two countries share a border stretching roughly three thousand eight hundred kilometres, most of which is not clearly marked. The frontier dispute intensified after a clash in the Himalayas in 2020, when troops from both sides fought hand to hand, leaving twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers dead, according to official figures and reports by Reuters and the BBC.
Despite the lingering mistrust, the two governments have taken steps this year to improve dialogue. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China in August, his first trip there in seven years. Both he and President Xi Jinping said the two nations should see themselves as partners rather than rivals.
The Shanghai airport episode now adds a new complication just as both sides attempt to steady their relationship. Further diplomatic exchanges are expected as India presses for a detailed account of what happened.