Invented names can't alter reality: India snubs China

New Delhi, April 4

Rejecting attempts by China to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, India today said the state was its integral and inalienable part and assigning “invented” names would not alter this reality.

Editorial: China at it again

Responding to media reports on the Chinese Civil Aviation Ministry releasing the third batch of Sinicised locations in Arunachal, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We outrightly reject this.”

Third attempt

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April 21, 2017: China renames six locations in Arunachal

Dec 30, 2021: Again renames 15 more locations in the state

April 3, 2023: Releases third batch of names for 11 locations

As was the case today, the MEA had strongly rejected the renaming of places in the past. China had defended the renaming of 15 places in Arunachal in 2021, claiming the “state was actually southern Tibet, an inherent part of its territory”. “This is within China’s sovereign rights,” argued Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday. Beijing calls Arunachal Pradesh

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“Zangnan” (southern part of Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region).

Earlier, too, India had asserted that Arunachal had “always been” and would “always be” an integral part of India. It had then added that “attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality”. This formulation was also included in Bagchi’s brief response on Tuesday.

It was the third batch of standardised geographical names for Arunachal issued by China’s ministry. The first batch of the standardised names of six places was released in 2017 and the second batch of 15 places was issued in 2021. The official names of the 11 places were released on Sunday. It also gave precise coordinates, including two land areas, two residential areas, five mountain peaks and two rivers, and listed the category of places’ names and their subordinate administrative districts, Chinese state-run Global Times reported on Monday.

China’s renaming of the places comes in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff that began in May 2020. Following the standoff, India bolstered its overall military preparedness along the Line of Actual Control in the Arunachal sector as well.