00:00China is back to doing what it does often which is provoke India and harass Indian citizens.
00:06That's exactly what happened because days after an Arunachal born woman alleged harassment for
00:11several hours at China's Shanghai airport due to her identity as Arunachali, Beijing and New Delhi
00:19are in a war of words. While Beijing has dismissed the allegations and instead launched a propaganda
00:24drive, India has made it clear that China overstepped its mark that Arunachal is a part of India and you
00:32cannot treat the citizens of Arunachal like this. I spoke to the woman at the center of this gathering
00:40storm. Listen in to what she had to say. And joining me now is the woman who was at the heart of this
00:49terrible ordeal that the Chinese authorities subjected to her. Prema Thongdok, appreciate
00:56you joining me here on the news today. I want to understand what exactly happened to you
01:02at the Shanghai airport. What did the immigration authorities tell you when you were there on a
01:11stopover on your way to Tokyo? Thank you, sir. Firstly, I would like to thank India today for being the
01:18first media channels to reach out and broadcast the story on a very important issue. So basically,
01:26I have in fact traveled and transited from Shanghai in the past. And this was my second time transiting
01:35and it seems like more of a pick and choose and harassment issue here. Because the first time that I
01:42was transiting via China, I did call up the Chinese embassy in London. And they confirmed that as
01:48long as your transit is less than say 12 to 24 hours, you are able to transit, there was no issue
01:54whatsoever on holding an Indian passport. So I basically was traveling on holiday between London,
02:03Gatwick to Japan with a transit in Shanghai. The first instance that when I did travel was on 16th of
02:12October 2024. And I did transit very easily with no questions asked whatsoever. However, this time,
02:20basically, the immigration officer came to single me out of the queue while I was queuing up for the
02:28security check in and basically took my passport from me from my possession and said, when I did
02:36continue to ask what is the issue I have connecting flight, why are you singling me out and taking me out
02:41of the queue? She went on to say Arunachal is not part of India, that is part of China and that my Indian
02:49passport was an invalid document for travel. He said very clearly that Arunachal is not part of India,
03:00it's part of China. Exactly. Because the Chinese authorities have interestingly claimed that
03:08they carried out checks, procedures in accordance with laws and regulations. You are telling me you've
03:15transited through the same journey, but you were never subject to this kind of harassment as you went.
03:20How did you respond when they told you this? And were they not even allowing you to move out?
03:25Definitely not able to move around except between where I was seated to the toilets really. And they
03:37wouldn't even let me have access to food or go to the terminals. I had to sit there just in front of
03:43the China Eastern airline transfer desk. And right next to them was a smaller immigration desk, both of
03:51which officials would just kind of, when I go to the airline, they say speak to the immigration, when
03:56they speak to the immigration, they say go to the airline. They kept basically, you know, transferring
04:02me from one desk to the other, and not giving a definitive answer. Of course, there is no law or written
04:09document that they produce to show and to tell me why they are holding me back, how they can claim an Indian
04:16passport to be invalid. But they simply said Aranachal pointing at my passport saying you're born in
04:24Aranachal. This is not part of India, it's part of China. One of the officials, while taking me from
04:30the initial immigration desk to the place next to the transfer desk during the shuttle where basically
04:39she was escorting me from one part of the airport to the other, even went on to say, why don't you
04:46apply for a Chinese passport? If you really want to leave the country, you should apply for a Chinese
04:51passport because you are Chinese. Aranachal is part of China, which obviously was a very confusing and
04:57a very outrageous report. How did you respond to them? How did you respond to this kind of outrageous
05:07statements that were being made by the Chinese? Exactly. I mean, I don't speak sea of Chinese.
05:13I don't have land, voting, property rights in China. I've never had access to public funds in China.
05:21I've always been a proud Indian citizen and will continue to be so. I've never heard of the concept
05:28of Aranachal Pradesh ever being a part of China. And funnily enough, when I saw the interview from the
05:36Chinese government this evening where they stated that Aranachal is in fact an illegal, they called
05:45Aranachal an illegal set up by India, which further confirms that the detention and the treatment of
05:53with malice is validated by the statement that they agreed that Aranachal is part of China and not India.
06:01You know, it's interesting because the Chinese have made it a practice to issue staple visas to Indian nationals from
06:10Aranachal, which has also, of course, caused considerable disquiet. India has, of course, objected to this.
06:17But you're saying you are only in transit. You are not planning to travel through China. And as you've said earlier,
06:23you've done this on numerous occasions. It almost seems as if for some reason you were being singled out.
06:29You're someone who's done a PhD or you've graduated with a BA in economics and a MSc degree in international business from the United Kingdom.
06:43So clearly, you have a very impressive CV. Did they not recognize any of that, that you've been traveling?
06:50You've done this journey in the past and you've never had to experience this. This was the first time you've been subject to this kind of harassment.
06:58Exactly. I mean, I have, you know, studied economics honors from Shriram College of Commerce in Delhi University,
07:06went on for my further studies and masters in the UK, then actually pursued as part of my continuous, you know,
07:14career development, a second master's in accounting as well while working for the financial services in London.
07:22And in fact, my job itself is regulation. So I work advising my billion dollar clients in the financial services
07:31about regulations and the potential regulations which keep them in the law.
07:37So obviously things like this is very disturbing that they just come up with claims over my birthplace and call it.
07:51Yeah, part of China. And I'm told that you eventually managed to get in touch with the Indian consulate in Shanghai through your friends.
07:59Six officials from there arrived at the airport within an hour, brought you food.
08:03Yes. So it required intervention, I'm presuming, therefore, by those consulate officers before you were finally allowed to get away.
08:12Am I correct? To be freed?
08:14Correct. I mean, they did say to me, either go back to your country or go back to UK.
08:20Now, after a 12-hour flight being held up with no written law or ground on claims, basically,
08:29and not actually laws of the land for 18 hours or so, it was impossible for me to have the physical capacity to be able.
08:38I was actually quite nauseous by the time the Indian government officials came because I did not have access to food.
08:45Right.
08:46They wouldn't let me go to the terminal.
08:47No food?
08:49No.
08:49No food?
08:50Absolutely nothing from the airline, nothing.
08:53They actually provided a little dry biscuit, which I gave to another elderly who was also in some situation, but he was held up for many hours.
09:04So I offered the food to another fellow passenger.
09:08I mean, it wasn't food, it was dry biscuit.
09:11Can I ask you, therefore, can I therefore ask you, ma'am, in conclusion, what is your message to the Chinese authorities today?
09:19As this has become a diplomatic battle, what would you like to tell those who harassed you in this manner in Shanghai?
09:27What is your message to the Chinese authorities?
09:29Sisa, all I want is peace and to have good relations, that India should have good relations with its neighbouring countries.
09:37And I see that India has been taking several steps towards a very friendly approach with China.
09:43In fact, opening up direct flights to China in the recent couple of months.
09:48And it seems quite two-faced that on the front, you are shaking hands with us and in the backlog,
09:56you are holding up and harassing Indian citizens, especially citizens who don't actually work for the government,
10:05don't have any influence or a platform to be able to influence or change the geopolitical boundaries.
10:11And simply put, this is such a big and diplomatic issue, which they should handle with the authorities of India
10:22and not harass a commoner, a citizen who absolutely does not have any hand in moving borders.
10:29And India has always been the country in which our natural Pradesh resides.
10:37And we have always been proud Indians.
10:39We don't have any land voting rights, nothing in China.
10:43We have always been part of India.
10:45And it's outrageous that even after such a big ordeal, the recent news, they have stated that
10:54India has set up our natural Pradesh illegally.
10:58I mean, that's news to us.
11:00We are residents there.
11:01We know that we have always been part of India.
11:08Okay, those are strong words.
11:10I hope that someone out there is listening.
11:12You are, Prema Thongdok, a proud Arunachali, a proud Indian.
11:16And we empathize with what you had to go through.
11:19And I hope that this is a wake up call to the authorities in Beijing.
11:23And this is completely unacceptable what happened to you.
11:26Thank you so much for joining me and sharing your ordeal with our audiences.
11:31I appreciate it.
11:33Thank you, sir.
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