Govt rejects 'senseless attempts' by China to rename places in Arunachal

The statement was issued by the MEA in response to media queries in the wake of China releasing a fourth list of 30 new names of various places in Arunachal Pradesh

India on Tuesday outrightly rejected as "senseless" China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that assigning "invented" names does not alter the reality that the state "is, has been, and will always be" an integral part of India.

India's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 30 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as southern part of Tibet.

"China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

"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," he said in response to media queries on the matter.

In a separate comment, Chief Minister Pema Khandu asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable integral part of India and termed Beijing announcing Chinese names for 30 more places in the state as "another gimmick".

Khandu also said proud citizens and patriots of Arunachal Pradesh are rejecting such antics from China.

"Another gimmick from China. Being a proud citizen of Bharat and a native of Arunachal Pradesh, I strongly condemn this act of naming of places within Arunachal Pradesh, which has been an inalienable integral part of India," he said in a statement.

The Union government on Tuesday outrightly rejected as "senseless" China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that assigning "invented" names does not alter the reality that the state "is, has been, and will always be" an integral part of India.

India's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 30 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as the southern part of 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.

In April last year too, India had reacted sharply when Beijing released the third list of standardised names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh.

The first batch of the standardised names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh was released in 2017 while the second batch of 15 places was issued in 2021.

On March 28, India said Beijing may "repeat its baseless claims" over Arunachal Pradesh as many times as it wants but that is not going to change New Delhi's position that the state "was, is and will always remain" an integral and inalienable part of the country.

Jaiswal had said this during his weekly press briefing, in response to a query on China continuing to harp on its claim over Arunachal Pradesh.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his Gujarat visit, asserted on Monday that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will remain an Indian state in the future.

Addressing a press conference in Surat, he had said nothing will be gained by changing the names.

"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," Jaishankar had said.

The ties between India and China came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border row that began in May, 2020.

The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.

India has been consistently maintaining that peace and tranquillity along the LAC were key for normalisation of overall ties.