China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Thursday it had issued ‘standardised’ names for 15 places in the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh, to be used henceforth on official Chinese maps, part of broader recent moves by Beijing to step up its territorial claims.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the move by Beijing ‘does not alter’ the fact that Arunachal is an integral part of India, reports The Hindu.
"This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017,” spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. "Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact."
Arunachal Pradesh is shown on Chinese maps as “Zangnan” or “South Tibet”, and in 2017, Beijing issued six official names for places there, which was at the time seen as a retaliatory move after the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, visited the State.
The 15 new ‘standardised’ names, along with their exact coordinates and a map, were released on Thursday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, days ahead of a new border law coming into force.
India in October expressed concern over the new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2022, saying that “China’s unilateral decision to bring out a legislation which can have implications on our existing bilateral arrangements on border management… is of concern to us”.
