India rejects China’s ‘preposterous’ attempt to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met during BRICS Summit in 2024. File pic

India on Wednesday outrightly rejected as "vain and preposterous" China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh and said such attempts will not alter the "undeniable" reality that the state "was, is, and will" always remain an integral part of India.

New Delhi's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.

"We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

"Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically," he said. Jaiswal was responding to a media query on the issue.

"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 said.

In April last year too, India had reacted sharply when Beijing released a list of standardised names of 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh.

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.

China's release of the new list of names of places in Arunachal Pradesh comes amid efforts by the two countries to normalise ties hit by the eastern Ladakh border standoff.

X-account handles blocked

The X account handles of Global Times and Xinhua on Wednesday showed that it has been withheld in India in response to a legal request.

An email query sent to the Ministry of Electronics and IT elicited no immediate reply in this regard.

This development comes in the backdrop of Beijing announcing Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.

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