In the wake of ongoing border tensions with China, it has once again provoked New Delhi by saying that it has never recognised Arunachal Pradesh and claimed it to be a 'part of China's south Tibet region'. Chinese state-run Global Times quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian as saying that, "China has never recognized so-called "Arunachal Pradesh," which is China's south Tibet region.

He also refused to give details on five civilians who were allegedly abducted by the Chinese army from India's Arunachal Pradesh. "We have no details to release yet about the question on Indian army sending a message to PLA about five missing Indians in the region," he said.

This comes a day after the Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Indian Army has sent a hotline message to Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) border post in Arunachal Pradesh in connection with the five missing Indians. "The Indian Army has already sent (a) hotline message to the counterpart PLA establishment at the border point in Arunachal Pradesh. Response is awaited (sic)," Rijiju tweeted on Sunday.

To recall, a local daily named Arunachal Times had reported about the abducted persons - Toch Singkam, Prasat Ringling, Dongtu Ebiya, Tanu Baker and Ngaru Diri - all of the Tagin community, had gone to the forest for hunting, a traditional practice of the tribals in the area. The incident was reported by two other villagers, who had managed to escape.

Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since mid-May. Both countries have since stepped up monitoring and also had unarmed clashes on the largely unsettled 3,488 km (2,167 miles) border.

Government sources said that both armies held another round of talks in eastern Ladakh on Sunday in a bid to calm tensions even as the situation remained 'delicate.' The commander-level interaction near Chushul lasted nearly four hours but still could not produce any tangible outcome.