India rejects China renaming places in Arunachal

New Delhi: India on Tuesday outrightly rejected China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of India and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality. India's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 11 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as southern part Tibet. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India outrightly rejected China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh. "We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright," Bagchi said.

"Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality," he said. It was the third batch of standardised geographical names for Arunachal Pradesh issued by China's civil affairs ministry.

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. The official names of the 11 places were released on Sunday by China's ministry of civil affairs. 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, state-run Global Times reported on Monday.

China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh came 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 (LAC) in the Arunachal Pradesh sector as well. Last month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the situation along the LAC in eastern Ladakh remained "very fragile" and is "quite dangerous" in military assessment because of close deployments of troops of both sides in some pockets though "substantial" progress has been made in the disengagement process in many areas. The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a nearly three-year confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement of troops from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks. India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas.

The Congress took strong objection on Tuesday to China renaming several places in Arunachal Pradesh, and charged it is the result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "clean chit" to the neighbouring country and his "eloquent silence" on Chinese actions at the border. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the country continues to face the consequences of Modi's "clean chit" to China.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Jairam Ramesh said a top Chinese diplomat has recently claimed that the India-China border situation is now "stable". "But China's provocations and transgressions continue. It has now released a third set of Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, having done so earlier in 2017 and 2021. "This is the price we continue to pay for PM Modi's clean chit to China in June 2020 and his eloquent silence on Chinese actions," Ramesh said in a statement.