(TibetanReview.net, Nov24’25) – Chinese immigration authorities at Shanghai airport have detained and taunted a woman transit passenger from the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, keeping her under harsh conditions for some 18 hours on Nov 21. They have called her passport invalid and asked why she had not applied for a Chinese passport instead. China claims that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it, calling it Zangnan (Southern Tibet), on the basis of its claim over Tibet, which it illegally annexed in the middle of the last century.
In a series of posts on the microblogging site X, Pema Wang Thongdok has said immigration officials at Shanghai Pudong Airport detained her for 18 on Nov 21, claiming her passport was “invalid” as her birthplace, Arunachal Pradesh, was “part of China”.
She was travelling from London to Japan and landed in Shanghai for a three-hour layover.
“I was held at Shanghai airport for over 18 hrs on 21st Nov, 2025, on claims by China immigration and China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited. They called my Indian passport invalid, as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh, which they claimed is Chinese territory,” she wrote in a post on X.
They refused to recognise her Indian citizenship, confiscated her passport, and prevented her from boarding her onward flight despite possessing a valid Japanese visa.
She has said multiple immigration officers and arlines staff scorned and mocked her, even suggesting she should “apply for a Chinese passport”.
She was denied access to food, airport facilities, and any official updates on her status.
She was confined to the airport’s transit area and could not rebook tickets or move freely. Distressed and running out of options, she was forced to contact the Indian Consulate in Shanghai through a friend in the UK. With consular intervention, she was finally able to leave the airport late at night and resume her journey, reported ndtv.com Nov 24.
Calling the incident a “direct insult to India’s sovereignty”, Thongdok has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian authorities to raise the issue with Beijing. She has urged that the Indian government ensure accountability, seek compensation, and guarantee that all Indians from Arunachal Pradesh are protected from similar discrimination while travelling abroad.
The report said the episode had provoked strong reactions among the Indians and diplomatic circles, highlighting the precarious predicament faced by citizens of Arunachal Pradesh due to China’s territorial claims and ongoing tensions between New Delhi and Beijing.
China has made a series of moves in recent years to give its own names to a number of places in Arunachal Pradesh, which India repeatedly rejected as “vain and preposterous” attempts to assert territorial claim over India.