New Delhi: India has strongly rejected China’s repeated attempts to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that such moves will not change the “undeniable reality” that the state is an integral part of India.
In a firm response on Wednesday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said China’s efforts to assert territorial claims through symbolic gestures such as renaming places are “vain and preposterous.”
“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically,” Jaiswal said.
“Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” he added.
India’s response follows China’s continued issuance of lists renaming locations in Arunachal Pradesh, the latest being a batch of 30 places announced in April 2024. These names, written in Chinese and Tibetan, are part of Beijing’s broader strategy to assert territorial claims along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Since 2017, China has released four such lists:
• 2017: First list with six renamed locations
• 2021: Second list with 15 locations
• 2023: Third list with 11 more names
• 2024: Most recent list with 30 renamed places
Despite these repeated actions by Beijing, India has maintained a consistent stance, rejecting all attempts by China to assert sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh.
India continues to affirm that Arunachal Pradesh is a sovereign part of its territory and that such symbolic tactics will have no impact on ground realities.
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