China has no locus standi to comment on India's internal matters, New Delhi responded after Beijing reacted sharply to the opening of 44 new bridges near the borders. Opposing all infrastructure development in the region, China had reiterated that "Ladakh Union Territory was "illegally set up by India and that the border infrastructure development was "the root cause for the tension between the two sides". In response, India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stressed ‘the Union Territories of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir are and will always remain an integral part of India’. Srivastava also said that peace and tranquility will only return by ‘scrupulously following the agreement reached.’