To keep underlining Arunachal Pradesh as a “disputed” territory is in tune with its stated position but Beijing caught New Delhi by surprise on Tuesday when it went public with an unusually strong statement opposing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s election campaign-related visit to the state earlier this month. India, for its part, expressed its “disappointment and concern” over the statement that came on a day when the state recorded a 72 per cent voter turnout.

It’s learnt that yesterday itself the Chinese side had lodged a protest through official channels. While China has routinely protested visits by prominent Indian leaders to Arunachal Pradesh, the decision to go public has not gone down well with New Delhi. Only recently, Beijing had objected to the Dalai Lama’s plan to visit the state next month.

Beijing’s statement comes two weeks before Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi travels to India for the India-Russia-China trilateral meet of foreign ministers in Bangalore on October 26-28. In fact, the Ministry of External Affairs was caught on the wrong foot as it had scheduled a meeting today with Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan to discuss Yang’s visit. Instead, it turned out to be a meeting where Indian concerns were conveyed.

It started with a suo motu statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu today: “China-India border has never been officially demarcated. The Chinese Government’s position on the disputed area has been consistent and clear. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction on the visit by the Indian leader to the disputed area in disregard of China’s grave concerns. We urge the Indian side to take China’s solemn concerns seriously and do not stir up trouble at the disputed area with a view to ensuring the sound development of China-India relations.”

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