Meet Prema Wangjom Thongdok and why China 'mocked' and detained her for 18 hours at Shanghai airport

Prema Wangjom Thongdok is an Indian citizen originally from Rupa in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng district. She has been living in the United Kingdom for the past 14 years. As per her LinkedIn profile, she studied Economics at Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and later completed an M.Sc in International Business from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK.

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Why was she stopped in Shanghai?

Thongdok reported that she was travelling from London to Japan and had a layover at Shanghai airport when the incident occurred. Speaking to ANI, she stated that Chinese immigration officials stopped her for nearly 18 hours, mocked her, and declared her Indian passport “invalid” after discovering she was from Arunachal Pradesh.

Describing the incident, she told ANI she was singled out from the immigration queue by a female officer who told her, “Arunachal— not India, China-China. Your visa is not acceptable. Your passport is invalid.” Thongdok claimed that when she questioned the officials, they mocked her and insisted that Arunachal Pradesh is part of China, telling her to “apply for a Chinese passport” and asserting that she was “Chinese, not Indian.”

She added that despite having transited through Shanghai in the past without any issues, this time she was unable to contact her family for hours. According to her, airline staff from China Eastern and other immigration officers pointed at her passport, laughed, and referred to Arunachal Pradesh as “China, not India,” behaviour she described as humiliating.

Thongdok said she eventually reached out to the Indian embassies in Shanghai and Beijing. Indian officials arrived within an hour, provided her food, and resolved the situation, enabling her to leave China after what she called an exhausting 18-hour ordeal.

Following the incident, India conveyed a strong protest to Beijing. According to government sources quoted by PTI, India reaffirmed that Arunachal Pradesh is “indisputably” a part of India and that residents of the state are fully entitled to hold and use Indian passports.

The episode comes against the backdrop of China’s repeated claims that Arunachal Pradesh is part of “South Tibet,” a position India consistently rejects, maintaining that the state is an integral and inseparable part of the country.