'Apply for Chinese Passport’: Arunachal Woman Alleges Racial Harassment at China Airport

A woman from Arunachal Pradesh, Prema Wangjom Thongdok, has alleged that she was subjected to harassment by immigration officials at Shanghai Pudong Airport in China during her transit to Japan.

Thongdok, who has been living in the United Kingdom for the past 14 years, said her Indian passport was repeatedly questioned and mocked by Chinese officials, leading to an 18-hour ordeal that ended only after intervention by Indian embassy teams in Shanghai and Beijing.

According to Thongdok, the situation unfolded soon after she arrived in Shanghai from London. She said a Chinese immigration officer pulled her out of the queue and confronted her about her passport.

“One of the officials from the Chinese immigration came over and singled me out of the queue. I asked her what was happening, and she went on to say, ‘Arunachal–not India, China–China, your visa is not acceptable. Your passport is invalid.’ When I tried to question them and ask them what the issue was, they said, ‘Arunachal is not part of India,’ and started mocking and laughing and saying things like ‘you should apply for the Chinese passport, you’re Chinese, you’re not Indian.’ I have transited through Shanghai in the past with no issues at all,” she told ANI.

She added that airport staff and airline personnel also behaved inappropriately.

“The airline staff of China Eastern and about two other immigration officers were speaking in their language and saying and pointing out and saying Arunachal and laughing and calling it China, not India. That was a very humiliating, questionable behaviour from the immigration staff as well as the airline staff,” she alleged.

Thongdok said Chinese authorities refused to accept her travel documents for hours and did not explain why she was being held up. She also said she was unable to contact her family during the initial hours of the incident.

“When I tried to question them and ask them what the issue was, they said, ‘Arunachal is not part of India’ and started mocking and laughing and saying things like ‘you should apply for the Chinese passport, you’re Chinese, you’re not Indian,’” she recalled.

She said the situation only changed after she reached out to Indian officials.

“I called up the Shanghai and Beijing Indian embassies and within an hour, the Indian officials came to the airport, got me some food and spoke through the issues with them and helped me get out of the country. A very long ordeal, 18 hours, but glad that I’m out of there. I had my Indian passport which is a valid document,” she said.

The incident comes at a time when India and China have recently held high-level conversations in an attempt to stabilise strained bilateral ties. India has consistently rejected China’s territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, reiterating that the state remains an integral and inseparable part of the country.

Earlier this year, after China released a list renaming several locations in Arunachal Pradesh, the Ministry of External Affairs had issued a strong response. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had stated that India “categorically rejects such attempts” and added, “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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