Likely next Indian PM Narendra Modi tells China: drop expansion mindset

Narendra Modi, the leading candidate to be India's next prime minister after a forthcoming election, declared the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh an integral part of India yesterday and urged China to abandon its "mindset of expansion".

India and China fought a brief border war in 1962. The nuclear-armed neighbours signed a pact in October to ensure that differences on their shared border do not spark a confrontation.

"Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and will always remain so. No power can snatch it away from us," Modi was shown on television saying on a campaign stop to the state. He wore the region's traditional headdress and jacket.

"Times have changed. The world does not welcome the mindset of expansion in today's times. China will also have to leave behind its mindset of expansion," he said.

Modi's latest attack on China is likely to ruffle feathers in Beijing.

India regularly holds elections in Arunachal Pradesh, which lies in a remote eastern stretch of the Himalayas and has been administered as part of India state for decades. China questions India's claim to the territory and calls it South Tibet.