Arunachal woman dismisses trolls on Shanghai airport incident: 'Have high-profile position, don't have idle time'

Pema Wang Thongdok said she was detained for 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong Airport on November 21.

The UK-based woman from Arunachal Pradesh, who recently faced harassment at Shanghai airport, issued a strong message while dismissing online trolling over the incident.

In her latest post, Pem Wang Thongdok thanked those who have stood by her since she made her ordeal public.

“I would like to thank everyone speaking in support of this diplomatic issue," she wrote on X.

She also said she is not active on X because she has a “very high-profile full-time position working in financial services and doesn't have idle time to answer trollers! The right people get it”.

Taking a firm stand against online harassment, she said, “And the ones who don’t get it are clearly not people I would engage with anyway!"

Thongdok alleged that she was detained for 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong Airport during what was supposed to be a three-hour layover on her journey from London to Japan on November 21. According to her, Chinese immigration officials refused to recognise her Indian passport, insisting that Arunachal Pradesh, listed as her birthplace, is “part of China”.

She said that Indians should stand united and with one another. "I don't even live in India so any action that the Indian govt takes will be for the benefit & pride of my fellow Indians and Arunachalis living here, not mine. We are one nation, we stand for one another (sic)," she said.

Thongdok said the Chinese officials confiscated her passport and didn't allow her to board her onward flight to Japan despite her having a valid Japanese visa. She claimed officers and China Eastern Airlines mocked her and even suggested that she should "apply for a Chinese passport."

And the ones who don’t get it are clearly not people I would engage with anyway! I don’t even live in India so any action that Indian govt takes will be for the benefit & pride of my fellow Indians and Arunachalis living here, not mine. We are one nation we stand for one another

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— Pem Wang Thongdok (@wang_pem) November 25, 2025

The Ministry of External Affairs said Chinese authorities had acted in violation of multiple international aviation conventions as well as their own 24-hour visa-free transit rules.

“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, and this is a self-evident fact. No amount of denial by the Chinese side is going to change this indisputable reality," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu termed the treatment “unacceptable and appalling", while the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee described the conduct of Chinese officials as “racially discriminatory" .