'Senseless Attempts': India On China Renaming Places In Arunachal Pradesh

The Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday slammed China after its reportedly renamed several places in Arunachal Pradesh.

In response to media queries on renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh by China, the MEA Official Spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal said: "China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts. Assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India."

As per a report in China's state-run Global Times, China has released a fourth list of 30 new names of various places in Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as part of south Tibet.

The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as part of south Tibet, state-run Global Times reported on Sunday.

The ministry's official website added 30 more names for the region.

Scheduled to come into effect on May 1, the implementation measures outlined in Article 13 state that "names of places in foreign languages that may undermine China's territorial claims and sovereignty rights should not be directly quoted or translated without authorization," according to the report.

In 2017, the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry first released a list of standardized names for six places in Zangnan, followed by a second list of 15 places in 2021, and then another list containing names for 11 places in 2023.

China's recent efforts to reaffirm its territorial claims began with Beijing lodging a diplomatic protest against India following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. During the visit, Modi inaugurated the Sela Tunnel, situated at an altitude of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh, and dedicated it to the nation.

However, India has been rejecting China renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of the country and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality.

On Monday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will remain an Indian state in the future.

"If I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was an Indian state, is an Indian state and will remain so in the future. Nothing will be gained by changing names," PTI quoted the minister as saying in Gujarat.