BEIJING: China expressed strong dissatisfaction on Tuesday over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh���s weekend visit to Arunachal Pradesh. ( Watch Video )

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to Arunachal Pradesh to woo voters ahead of Monday���s assembly elections came despite Beijing's serious concerns, China���s foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

Reacting to China���s statement, foreign minister S M Krishna said, "Well, regardless of what others say it is the Government of India's stated position that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. We rest at that.���

The ministry also said in a statement that New Delhi was "disappointed and concerned" over Chinese objection to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

���Arunachal Pradesh is inalienable part of India, and China is aware of this, said external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash.

"The Chinese statement does not help the process of ongoing negotiations between the two governments on the boundary question," he said.

Earlier, the statement from China said, "It is strongly dissatisfied with the visit to the disputed region by the Indian leader disregarding China's serious concerns."

``We demand the Indian side address China's serious and just concerns and not trigger disturbances in the disputed region so as to facilitate the healthy development of China-India relations,'' the statement said.

Manmohan Singh had toured and addressed an election rally in Arunachal Pradesh on October 3.

The protest reflects enduring Chinese sensitivities over the mountainous state, which shares a 640-mile (1,030-kilometer) unfenced border with China.

The Asian giants fought a border war in 1962 and the frontier has yet to be settled despite 13 rounds of talks on the issue.

China claims the region as its own territory and has never recognized a British colonial-era border known as the McMahon Line that designated the region as part of India. China also occupies a chunk of territory in Kashmir that India regards as its own.

Most recently, China sought to block part of a loan to India from the Asian Development Bank earmarked for projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing also protested a visit to the region last month by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, to no avail.

China's protests and continuing claims have fueled Indian fears of military aggression, prompting calls for New Delhi to reinforce military units on its side of the border.

India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.

China earlier this year had also taken objection to Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, and had informally protested. Singh visited Arunachal on January 31 and February 1 this year, a few days after returning from a trip to China.

Singh's reference to the state as "our land of the rising sun" at a public rally was objected to by China.

China apparently saw it as India's assertion of its claim on Arunachal, which it claims is a "disputed territory".

Responding to China's objection, the then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "Arunachal is an integral part of our country... Therefore, it is obvious the Prime Minister will visit any part of the country".

