NEW DELHI, Apr 4: India on Tuesday outrightly rejected China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of India and assigning “invented” names does not alter this reality.
India’s reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 11 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as southern part Tibet.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India outrightly rejected China’s renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh.
“We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright,” Bagchi said.
“Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality,” he said.
It was 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 Pradesh was released in 2017 while the second batch of 15 places was issued in 2021.
The official names of the 11 places were released on Sunday by China’s ministry of civil affairs.