China’s renaming of places in Arunachal to impact bilateral ties: MEA

NEW DELHI, April 13: India on Sunday said that any move by China to give fictitious names to locations in Indian territory will harm the ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise bilateral ties.

“India categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Jaiswal was responding to media queries on China renaming places in India including Arunachal Pradesh.

“Such attempts by China at introducing false claims and manufacturing baseless narratives cannot alter the undeniable reality that these places and territories, including Arunachal Pradesh, were, are, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.

According to Jaiswal, these actions by the Chinese side detract from ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise India-China bilateral ties.

“China should refrain from actions which inject negativity into relations and undermine efforts to create better understanding,” the MEA spokesperson said.

In a fresh list released recently, China has renamed certain places in the Indian territory. The Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry released the first list of the standardised names of six places in Zangnan in 2017, while the second list of 15 places was issued in 2021, followed by another list with names for 11 places in 2023. Zangnan is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet.

India has always rejected China’s claims over Arunachal Pradesh, amid recent incidents linked to visa and travel of people from the northeastern state.

By

A Correspondent