Amid the ongoing India-China border tensions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday said that China has 'never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh'. This comes in the backdrop of reports emerging over the past few days alleging that five people from the Upper Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh have reportedly been 'abducted' by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, as quoted by the Global Times newspaper, said that China has never recognised the 'so-called' Arunachal Pradesh state. Notably, China identifies the region as 'south Tibet', over which it claims sovereignty.

The Indian Army had a day earlier asked its Chinese counterpart if five civilians who went missing from an eastern border state days ago were in their custody, however, Chinese officials have yet to provide a definitive response.

"We spoke with them on the hotline and told them that it`s suspected that some people have crossed across to your side and we will be grateful if you could hand them over back, as per what we do normally," Lieutenant Colonel Harsh Wardhan Pande, a spokesman for India`s defence forces, told news agency Reuters.

"There is no earmarked line going through the forest or the mountains, so they keep moving here and there. So they might have gone there. It`s a very normal thing."

He said they were yet to hear back from the Chinese.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said at a daily briefing today that he was not aware of the situation.

The villagers belonging to the Tagin community were abducted from the forest near Nacho while they were out hunting, informed one of the relatives of the abducted persons on Friday. They have been identified as Toch Singkam, Prasat Ringling, Dongtu Ebiya, Tanu Baker, and Ngaru Diri.

Arunachal DGP has not confirmed the kidnapping by PLA troops.

The family members and relatives have appealed to the authorities concerned to take serious note of the incident and initiate steps to bring the five back to the country.

Those accompanying the five boys managed to flee the spot, came back and claimed that the five have been ‘abducted’ by Chinese PLA. 

The DGP, DM of the district have said that they do not have any confirmation on this. They have passed on the information to the Army unit posted in that location. 

Meanwhile, the Army has begun an investigation. 

There is no confirmation on abducted by Chinese PLA as of now. The incident has created panic among the villagers of Nacho.

Relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have hit a multi-decade low since clashes at their western Himalayan border in June that killed 20 Indian soldiers. Both sides have since stepped up monitoring of their largely unsettled 3,488 km (2,167 miles) border.

Separately, a Tibetan member of an Indian special forces unit who died days ago in a mine blast near the site of a border flare-up with Chinese troops in the western Himalayas was cremated on Monday. His death gave a rare glimpse into a little-known group of elite, high-altitude warriors drawn mainly from Tibetan refugees in India.

(With Reuters inputs)