India retaliates to Chinese aggression: Renames 30 Tibetan sites across LAC

The newly elected National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the renaming of 30 places in Tibet, signalling a strong response to China’s nomenclature aggression in Arunachal Pradesh.

The names, grounded in historical research and affiliation to the Tibet region, will be released by the Indian Army and updated on their maps along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), reported News18.

Relations between India and China have been strained, except for trade, since the eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Tso area. The two sides have held 21 rounds of military talks to resolve the standoff.

This move is a direct retort to China’s renaming of 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh in April, a decision that India strongly objected to. Under Modi 3.0, India aims to assert its territorial claims by assigning its own names to locations in occupied Tibet.

The list includes 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass, and a piece of land, presented in Chinese characters, Tibetan, and pinyin. China’s previous actions include releasing lists of standardised names for places in Arunachal Pradesh since 2017, with the latest list containing almost as many new names as the previous three combined.

Despite China’s repeated claims, India has consistently affirmed Arunachal Pradesh as an integral and inalienable part of the country. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has maintained that assigning “invented” names does not alter this reality. This strong response from India follows widespread global disapproval of China's expansionist policies in regions such as the South China Sea.

Taking charge as External Affairs Minister (EAM) for the second time, S Jaishankar on Tuesday reaffirmed the country’s robust stance on issues concerning China and Pakistan, stating that both border issues and cross-border terrorism will be dealt with firmly.

“As far as Pakistan and China are concerned, the relations with those countries are different, and the problems there are also different. Our focus with regard to China will be on finding a solution for the border issues, and with Pakistan, we would want to find a solution to the issue of years-old cross-border terrorism,” Jaishankar said after assuming office.