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“At a time when China continues to pose grave and gathering threats to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, it is critical for the United States to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our strategic partners in the region, especially India,” Senator Bill Hagerty, who along with Senator Jeff Merkley introduced a resolution in the Senate, said.
“This bipartisan resolution expresses the Senate’s support for unequivocally recognising the state of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, condemning China’s military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, and further enhancing the US-India strategic partnership and the Quad in support of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” he said on Tuesday.
The resolution, which comes following the biggest clash between the Republic of India and China in the Eastern Sector along the Line of Actual Control in six years, reaffirms that the United States recognises the McMahon Line as the international boundary between China and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The resolution also pushes back against People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims that Arunachal Pradesh is PRC territory, which is a part of the PRC’s increasingly aggressive and expansionist policies.
“America’s values supporting freedom and a rules-based order must be at the center of all of our actions and relationships around the world, especially as the PRC government pushes an alternative vision,” Merkley said.
