Modi targets China in election speech

NEW DELHI, Feb 22 (AFP): India's opposition leader Narendra Modi, favourite to win this year's polls, on Saturday warned neighbour China to shed its "expansionist mindset" as he toured a disputed region in the remote northeast.

Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said China should instead focus on forging peaceful bilateral ties with India.

Modi was speaking during an election rally in the state of Arunachal Pradesh nestled in the eastern stretch of the Himalayas that China claims as its own.

"The world has changed. An expansionist mindset will not be accepted. China will also have to do away with such a mindset," Modi said in comments posted on his official website.

"Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and will always remain so. No power can snatch it away from us."

China and India share a de facto border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has never been formally demarcated.