India strongly rejected China's renaming of about 30 places in its northeastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday, calling the move "senseless" and reiterating that the border province is an "integral" part of India.
Clarifying India’s stance on China’s move, the Ministry of External Affairs' (MEA) official spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, on Tuesday called the move a senseless attempt and said that India rejects such claims.
"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,” said Jaiswal.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Zangnan, as a part of South Tibet. India has repeatedly dismissed such claims.
The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardised geographical names in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry released the first list of the standardized names of six places in Zangnan was released in 2017, while the second list of 15 places was issued in 2021 followed by another list with names for 11 places in 2023, reported the Economic Times.
China has intensified its claim on Indian state and lodged a diplomatic protest after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh for the inauguration of Sela Tunnel built at an altitude of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier, a US spokesperson also said that the US recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and opposes any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims over it.
