A woman from Arunachal Pradesh has claimed that she was allegedly harassed at the Shanghai airport, where Chinese officials refused to accept her Indian passport during a transit halt and claimed that the northeast state was a part of China. In a series of posts on micro-blogging website X (which was formerly called Twitter), the woman said the Chinese officials said that her Indian visa was 'invalid', which left her confused.
The woman has been identified as Prema Wangjom Thongdok, who lives in the United Kingdom (UK). According to media reports, she was travelling to Japan from London on November 21. She landed in Shanghai for a three-hour layover, where she was held for more than 18 hours by the Chinese officials.
"I was held at Shanghai airport for over 18 hrs on 21st Nov, 2025 on claims by China immigration & @chinaeasternair," she posted on X, while tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu. "They called my Indian passport invalid as my birthplace is Arunachal Pradesh which they claimed is Chinese territory."
In one of her posts, she also tagged the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, asking whether Arunachal Pradesh was part of India. "Indian citizen held at Shanghai airport on claims that my Indian passport is invalid because I was born in Arunachal Pradesh India," Thongdok said.
Later, Thongdok told news agency ANI that she has written an email to the Ministry of External Affairs, PMO, the CM of Arunachal Pradesh, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to ensure that such incidents should not happen.
"Just to be harassed for so many hours, I think it might be quite a tactic used by the Chinese government to hassle citizens of India, especially from Arunachal Pradesh... I'm just grateful to the team from the Indian embassy who helped me get out of there finally around 10.30 PM," she said.
The government is yet to respond to Thongdok's allegations.
China's Arunachal claim
China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of Southern Tibet. Earlier this year, it also renamed 27 places - including 15 mountains and four passes - in the northeast state, a move India outrightly rejected, calling it "vain and preposterous". In a statement in May, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the government has rejected such attempts "categorically".
"We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh," Jaiswal had said. "Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India."
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