India has categorically rejected China’s attempt to rename the places of Arunachal Pradesh, Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Tuesday. He asserted that Arunachal Pradesh will always be an integral part of India.
Arindam Bagchi’s statement comes after China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs came up with the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it referred to as “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet”.
Responding to media queries regarding China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, Arindam Bagchi said in a statement, “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time that China has made such an attempt. We fundamentally reject that.”
Our response to media queries regarding the renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh by China:https://t.co/JcMQoaTzK6 pic.twitter.com/CKBzK36H1K
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) April 4, 2023
He further said, “Arunachal Pradesh is, was and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign made-up names will not change this reality.’
China has published the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Pinyin under the rules for geographical names issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, the Global Times reported.
The ministry on Sunday announced the names of 11 places and also gave exact coordinates, including two residential areas, five mountain peaks, two rivers and two other areas.
China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs also listed a category of place names and their subordinate administrative districts, according to the report.
According to a Global Times report, this is the third batch of geographical names announced by the ministry in Arunachal Pradesh. According to a news report, the first batch of six-digit standardized names was released in 2017, and the second batch of 15 digits was released in 2021.
Earlier, in December last year, the Indian government said it had seen reports of China’s attempt to rename some places in Arunachal Pradesh “in its own language”, claiming that the border state was and would always be an integral part of India. ”
Responding to a media query on reports that China had renamed some places in Arunachal Pradesh in its own language, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017.
“We have seen such reports. This is not the first time that China has attempted such renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China also sought the allocation of such names in April 2017,” Bagchi said.
“Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning fictitious names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not change this fact,” he added.
