New Delhi: India has strongly criticized China for its repeated efforts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
According to the reports China renamed 30 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, includes 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass and a piece of land. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan which is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju strongly criticized China’s attempt to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, saying, “I strongly condemn China’s illegally ‘standardised’ geographical names given to 30 places inside Arunachal Pradesh. China has been making all baseless claims, but that’s not going to change the ground reality and the ‘historical facts’.”
External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that assigning fictitious names will not change the fact that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. This response comes after China’s recent actions of renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar declined to comment on China’s renewed claim over Arunachal Pradesh, stating, “If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be a state of India. Changing names does not have an effect.”
China’s Defence Minister has stated that they “never acknowledge and firmly oppose” the existence of “so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established in India”.
India has firmly rejected China’s claims, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) emphasizing that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India, regardless of China’s attempts to rename places.
In response to China’s objection to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh last month, India reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and will remain so.
The dispute between India and China over territorial boundaries, particularly concerning Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Ladakh, has been ongoing. The two countries fought a brief war over Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh in 1962. Despite signing agreements in 1993 and 1996 to respect the Line of Actual Control, the 4,057 km-long border remains a contentious issue between the two nations.
