BJP chief Amit Shah today responded to China’s objection to the planned Japanese investment for the development of India’s north-eastern states. “India has sovereign right to develop the country within its boundaries,” PTI reported him as saying. “India’s policy has been very well clarified by Sushmaji (External Affairs Minister). It is our sovereign right to develop the country inside our boundaries and we will utilise that right,” Shah told reporters while while replying to a query on the issue.

China had yesterday stated that it was opposed to any third-party involvement in the resolution of the Sino-India boundary disputes or any foreign investments in areas over which it has claims in the region. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying had said that any third party should not meddle in the disputes between China and India over territorial sovereignty in any form.

“You must be very clear that boundary of India China border area has not been totally delimited and we have disputes in the eastern section of the boundary. We are now trying to seek a solution through negotiation that is acceptable to both sides,” Hua had said.

Japan’s plan to step-up its investment in North-East was announced during Japanese premier Shinzo Abe’s visit to Ahmedabad for the 12th India-Japan Annual Summit. The India-Japan joint declaration said, “The two Prime Ministers welcomed the India-Japan cooperation on development of India’s North Eastern Region (NER) as a concrete symbol of developing synergies between India’s Act East policy and Japan’s Free and Open Indo Pacific Strategy. In this context, they noted with satisfaction the setting up of the India-Japan Act East Forum. They appreciated the cooperation between Japan and North Eastern Region of India, ranging from key infrastructure such as road connectivity, electricity, water supply and sewage, to social and environmental sustainability such as afforestation and community empowerment, as well as people-to-people exchanges including the “IRIS Program” inviting youth from the NER to Japan.”