NEW DELHI, Feb 8 China has not approved of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s recent claims that the border state of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India, Press Trust of India said on Friday.

In a report from Beijing, the news agency quoted Chinese officials as telling Indian diplomats that it was not proper to make such a comment when the two countries were engaged in crucial talks over their boundary dispute. It quoted unnamed sources in Beijing for the assertion. However, there was no official reaction to the report.

PTI quoted the sources as saying that Beijings reported protest over the prime minister`s visit and his comments in Arunachal Pradesh was informally conveyed to the Indian Embassy by Chinese Foreign Ministry earlier this week.

“Officials on both sides were tight-lipped about the issue, which has the potential to turn into a controversy here,” PTI added.

China has been claiming that entire Arunachal Pradesh belongs to it and the two countries are holding talks to resolve the dispute.

Dr Singh, during his maiden visit to Arunachal on Jan 31, had said that the state was “our land of rising sun”, in a clear message to China that it belonged to India.

Chinese claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory which has been nagging the ties between the two countries for long.

“The issue gets flared up when the Chinese troops at regular intervals intrude into the Indian territory to demonstrate their claim on the land,” the Indian news agency said.

India has, however, been seeking to play down these incursions by saying that these were a result of “differences in perception”.

Special Representatives of the countries are working on possible solutions along the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles signed in 2005, PTI said.