The Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang is raising a long-standing border issue between China and India. (Photo : Getty Images)
Lian Xiangmin, director of contemporary research at the Beijing-based China Tibetology Research Centre, said that Tawang is part of Tibet, not India.
The visit of the Dalai Lama involves sensitive issues regarding the claim of India that the Arunachal Pradesh is part of their territory.
Lian said, "Tawang is a part of Tibet and Tibet is a part of China. So Tawang is a part of China. There is not much problem here."
China has criticized India for letting the Dalai Lama enter India and said that the Tawang Buddhist Monastery is part of the three main Buddhist temples of Tibet.
The Indian government has made arrangements for the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang, which angered China.
Even the Dalai Lama claims that Tawang is part of India.
The scholar said that the claim in completely false. He said, "The Dalai Lama said Tawang part of India. This is against the facts."
"It is not true. It undermines the friendly relations between China and India," he added.
The scholar hopes that China and India will resume friendly talks because the issue has not been resolved for a long time.
He said, "I hope to see friendly relations between India and China. We don't want to see such a thing happening time and again."
"This time around the Indian government once again allowed the Dalai Lama to go to Tawang. This will only hurt the friendly relations between the two countries," he said.
A spokesperson from the ministry of foreign affairs, Geng Shuang, said, "China is gravely concerned over such information. China's position on the eastern section of China-India border dispute is consistent and clear."
"The Dalai-clique has long been engaging in anti-China separatist activities and its record on the border question is not that good," he added.
Lian hopes that both China and India respect the facts of history and move forward despite the Dalai Lama hitting a sensitive nerve for both countries.
