Renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh can't alter fact: India to China
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New Delhi: The Indian government said on Thursday that China assigning its own names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not change the fact the state is an integral part of India, The Indian Express reported.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs' spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the ministry had acknowledged the Chinese move, and this is not the first time Beijing renamed places in the Indian state. He said that Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will be an integral part of India.
According to Chinese state-run media, Global Times, the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry renamed 15 places in Zangnan (the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh) or "South Tibet", as China calls it. The renaming was done according to the regulations on geographical names issued by the Chinese State Council.
Those named were eight residential areas, four mountains, two rivers and a mountain pass. This is the second batch of naming in Arunachal Pradesh by China, after the 2017 naming of six places.
The India-China relations were sour, particularly for the last two years after a year-long conflict in eastern Ladakh. Though the situation has calmed down here after many rounds of talks, other issues are taking a toll on the Delhi-Beijing ties, like China arming up borders, invading and building over Indian territories while India imposing sanctions, banning Chinese android apps, etc.
The latest of in the series was China naming places in Arunachal Pradesh. The border between the two nations covers a LAC of 3,488 km.
TIE reports that Beijing always protested Indian administration- President, Prime Ministers and senior ministers- visiting Arunachal Pradesh. China giving its own names to the Indian territory of Arunachal Pradesh is its reiteration of territorial claims and is a part of its aggressive expansionist approach, TIE says.
According to Global Times, the named residential areas are Sêngkezong and Daglungzong in Cona County of Shannan Prefecture; Mani'gang, During and Migpain in Medog County of Nyingchi; Goling and Damba in Zayu County of Nyingchi; and Mejag in Lhunze County of Shannan Prefecture. Wamo Ri, Dêu Ri, Lhünzhub Ri and Kunmingxingzê Fen are the mountains, Xenyogmo He and Dulain He are the two rivers while the mountain pass is named Se La.
