- China released a set of new names for 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh as part of its efforts to reemphasize its claim over the state.
- The list of names includes five mountain peaks, two land areas, two residential areas, and two rivers.
- India lambasts China over this and asserts that the state has “been” and will “always be” an integral part of India.
- This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright.” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.
- “Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality,” he  further said.
India lambasts China over renaming places In Arunachal Pradesh. The list of names released by China includes five mountain peaks, two land areas, two residential areas, and two rivers. The Ministry of External Affairs said that this is not the first time China has made such an attempt and asserted that India rejects the move outright. India rejected China renaming 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that the state has “been” and will “always be” an integral part of India.
China yesterday has released a set of new names for 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh as part of its efforts to reemphasize its claim over the state. This is the third time that China has ‘renamed’ places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet”. The list of names released by China includes five mountain peaks, two land areas, two residential areas, and two rivers. The first two such lists were released in 2018 and 2021. China issued a list of six names in 2017, days after the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. China was sharply critical of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit. Again in 2021 it ‘renamed’ 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi issued a statement and said that China was inventing names which would not alter reality. “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright.” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. “Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality,” he said.
According to The Global Times, which is part of the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily group of publications in China, the Chinese authorities are calling this move ‘standardised geographical names’.
India and Chinese troops had clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the state’s Tawang sector last December, in a face-off that came amid a months-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had then accused China of trying to “unilaterally” change the status quo along the LAC.
