In a brazen act, China has taken exception to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India and has lodged a protest over it.

China has conveyed to India that it was not proper to make such a comment at a time when the two countries were engaged in talks over the boundary question, sources said.

The protest over the visit and comments was informally conveyed to the Indian High Commission by Chinese Foreign Ministry earlier this week, they said.

Officials on both sides were tightlipped about the issue, which has the potential to turn into a controversy in New Delhi.

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 January 31, had said that the state was 'our land of rising sun', in a clear message to China that it belongs to India.

Chinese claim over Arunachal 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 Indian territory to demonstrate their claim on the land.

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

The Special Representatives of the two countries are working out a solution as per the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles signed in 2005.