Arunachal woman detained for 18 hours in China, India lodges protest

A woman from Arunachal Pradesh who has been living in the United Kingdom for nearly a decade has accused Chinese immigration officials of detaining her for close to 18 hours at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport after they refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of her Indian passport and essentially told her she was a "Chinese citizen", all the while allegedly mocking her.

The incident, which occurred during what should have been a routine transit stop, has reignited concern in New Delhi about Beijing’s persistent efforts to challenge India’s territorial integrity by undermining the status of Arunachal Pradesh and its residents.

The traveller, 35-year-old Pema Wangjom Thongdok, was en route from London to Japan on 21 November when her three-hour stopover in Shanghai escalated into what she later described as a humiliating and deeply unsettling confrontation with Chinese authorities.

According to Pema, immigration personnel declared her passport “invalid” solely because the document listed her birthplace as Arunachal Pradesh, prompting a prolonged standoff that left her stranded in the transit area, cut off from basic facilities, and deprived of meaningful communication.

Indian government sources confirmed that New Delhi issued a strong demarche to China on the same day. Officials stated firmly that Arunachal Pradesh is “indisputably part of India” and its residents are fully entitled to hold and travel using Indian passports without obstruction. Sources stressed that China’s actions constituted a “completely unacceptable” attempt to interfere with the nationality and mobility of Indian citizens.

Pema, whose family originates from Rupa in West Kameng district, recounted the episode in a detailed post on X on Sunday. “I was held at Shanghai airport for over 18 hours… They called my Indian passport invalid because my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh, which they said belongs to China,” she wrote.

Her account described a series of coercive and intimidating interactions: officers repeatedly insisted that Arunachal Pradesh was “Chinese territory”, demanded that she verbally endorse their interpretation, and refused to proceed with immigration processing until she complied. She refused.

She said her passport was confiscated, her Japanese visa — valid and approved — was ignored, and she was barred from boarding her connecting flight. During those long hours in the transit area, she struggled to obtain clear information about her status or the next steps. “There was no proper food, no clear explanation, and the constant pressure to accept their claim,” she said, calling the experience “traumatising and surreal”.

Government sources said the Indian consulate in Shanghai quickly took up the matter with local authorities once Pema managed to reach out. Indian diplomats spoke to immigration officials, offered consular assistance, and pressed for her immediate release. “It was stressed that the detention was on ludicrous grounds,” one official said.

The same official noted that China’s actions appeared to contravene international aviation norms under the Chicago and Montreal Conventions, which mandate safe and unimpeded passage for international transit passengers.

Officials added that such incidents are particularly unhelpful at a time when India and China are engaged in gradual, fragile attempts to restore normalcy following years of military tensions along the Line of Actual Control. “Actions like these introduce unnecessary obstructions and signal a lack of seriousness from the Chinese side,” a source said.

Speaking to PTI from Arunachal Pradesh, Pema’s mother Sang Chhom Thongdok described her daughter’s experience as a “harrowing ordeal that no Indian citizen should ever have to endure”, adding that Pema “did not buckle under pressure because she is strong, smart and knows her rights”.

She explained that when her daughter was confronted at the immigration counter, she quickly reached out to her late father’s friend in Delhi, who then contacted the Indian mission in China. Indian officials stepped in, and eventually Pema was allowed to leave China. She is currently in Bangkok, recuperating from the shock.

Thongdok added that her daughter spent her schooling years in Delhi, completed her B.Com from a reputable Delhi University college, and then moved to the UK for postgraduate studies. She has been working for a financial services firm in London and travels frequently.

“She has flown through dozens of airports around the world and has never experienced anything like this,” her mother said. The family maintains a flat in Delhi, and Thongdok divides her time between the capital and Arunachal after losing her husband to Covid-19 in 2021.

The incident has unfolded against a familiar backdrop of China’s long-standing territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as 'South Tibet'. India has consistently and unequivocally rejected these claims, calling the state an integral and inalienable part of the country. Beijing, however, has often resorted to diplomatic and administrative provocations — moves that Indian officials view as attempts to normalise territorial revisionism.

These provocations have included issuing “standard maps” that depict Indian territory as part of China, renaming villages inside Arunachal Pradesh with Mandarin labels, and objecting to visits by Indian leaders to the state. New Delhi has routinely dismissed these acts as baseless and counterproductive, but they continue to strain bilateral relations.

Pema’s experience in Shanghai is reminiscent of China’s controversial stapled-visa practice, which it has applied almost exclusively to residents of Arunachal Pradesh (and sometimes to those from Jammu and Kashmir). Instead of stamping the passport, Chinese authorities issue visas on separate sheets of paper — an act India says undermines its sovereignty and insults its citizens.

Over the past decade, several athletes, students and government officials from Arunachal Pradesh have been denied entry into China after refusing stapled visas, resulting in diplomatic protests and, on some occasions, cancelled bilateral exchanges.

Officials in Itanagar told reporters that Pema’s ordeal has sparked renewed fears that China may now be extending the logic of the stapled-visa policy to international transit passengers as well — effectively penalising Indian citizens solely on the basis of their birthplace, even when they are not attempting to enter China. “This is deeply worrying,” one official said. “If transit passengers are going to be targeted, it creates a new layer of vulnerability and discrimination for people from Arunachal Pradesh.”

The latest episode, they added, reinforces the need for Indian travellers — especially those from border states — to remain vigilant when transiting through Chinese airports. It also underscores, they said, the importance of robust consular mechanisms to assist citizens in such crises.

For now, Pema has resumed her onward journey but has expressed her intention to pursue the matter formally. She has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Kiren Rijiju and Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, calling for stronger safeguards for citizens of her home state and a firm response from the Indian government.

As New Delhi evaluates its next steps, the incident is likely to feature prominently in future diplomatic exchanges, adding to the long list of irritants in India–China relations. For many in Arunachal Pradesh, however, the deeper concern is whether Pema’s case represents an isolated incident — or the beginning of a new pattern.

With PTI inputs