The Ministry of External Affairs has said that China's attempt to rename regions in Arunachal Pradesh holds no value as the state is an integral part of India. Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in an official statement, "This is not first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright."
"Arunachal Pradesh an integral, inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality," he further said.
This comes after China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Sunday released the standardised names of 11 places for Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls "Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet". It was issued in accordance with regulations on geographical names issued by the State Council, China's cabinet.
The ministry, as reported by PTI citing Global Times, also gave precise coordinates, including two land areas, two residential areas, five mountain peaks and two rivers and listed the category of places' names and their subordinate administrative districts.
Notably, this is the third batch of standardised geographical names for Arunachal Pradesh issued by China’s civil affairs ministry. The first batch of the standardised names of six places in Arunachal was released in 2017, and the second batch of 15 places was issued in 2021.
Earlier, India has dismissed the Chinese move of renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state has "always been" and will "always be" an integral part of India and that assigning "invented" names does not alter this fact.
"This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in December 2021.
"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," he had said.