ITANAGAR: It is becoming difficult to realize Arunachal Pradesh’s economic potential because of resistance from “the neighbouring country”, chief minister Pema Khandu said on Saturday, in a thinly veiled reference to China’s objections to foreign investment in the region — which it claims as its own territory, “southern Tibet”.Khandu urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and resolve the matter. “Arunachal Pradesh has a lot of potential, but due to objections by the neighbouring country, foreign investment is not making it to the state and making it difficult to tap the resources,” Khandu said at Indira Gandhi Park here, after Modi laid the foundation of and inaugurated several projects. He added, “I hope, with your intervention, the issue will be resolved so we can convert our potential into capital.”Last year, China had objected to foreign investment in the “disputed areas” soon after Japan announced its plans to step up investment in the northeast and questioned why there was no mention of “China at all” in the joint statement issued by India and Japan.A direct fallout of China’s resistance to foreign investment in Arunachal Pradesh was in 2009, when Asian Development Bank countries backed out of a flood management project in the state and said the plan was a “mistake” following pressure from China.“In 2010, pre-empting opposition from China, India had dropped Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim from a World Bank loan proposal,” an official said. The initial proposal was for a Rs 11,000-crore loan for the entire northeastern region, which was revised to a Rs 8,115-crore proposal after excluding the two states.

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