China on Thursday said that the three Chinese citizens, who were arrested in India without valid travel documents recently, were "tourists" and entered the Indian territory by "mistake".
"In recent days three Chinese tourists crossed over to Indian border by mistake along the India-Nepal border. They were detained by Indian police," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here while replying to a question on three detained persons.
"The Chinese Embassy in India is in touch with the Indian police. We urge the Indian side to properly handle the issue", Hong said.
Three Chinese nationals were arrested on January 17 by Sashastra Seema Bal personnel for crossing the border illegally from Nepal and taking pictures of important installations.
Liao Xing, Yu Dangli and Yang Liu were arrested near Rupedhiya border in Uttar Pradesh.