India firmly rejected China’s latest attempt to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh, reiterating that the Himalayan border state remains an “integral and inalienable” part of the country. New Delhi’s response came after Beijing claimed it had “standardised” place names in what it calls Zangnan, a region China asserts as part of South Tibet — a claim India has consistently dismissed.
The issue of renaming locations in Arunachal Pradesh has repeatedly strained relations between the two neighbours, particularly after their ties deteriorated sharply following the deadly 2020 clash in the Galwan Valley. India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Wednesday that “creative naming” by China would not alter the historical or legal reality of India’s territorial sovereignty.
Beijing’s move mirrors a similar renaming exercise in April last year, when China renamed about 30 sites in Arunachal Pradesh. India rejected that attempt as “senseless,” reaffirming its position that the state has always been an integral part of the nation.
The exchange comes at a sensitive time, days after India and Pakistan ended four days of intense cross-border hostilities involving jets, missiles and drones, following a terror attack on Hindu tourists in Kashmir that killed 26 people.
