MEA snubs renaming of Arunachal villages by China, avers it's 'integral part of India'

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday reacted to China's attempts to rename villages in Arunachal Pradesh asserting that the Northeastern state was and would continue to be an 'integral part' of Indian territory. Issuing a statement on the development, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi underlined that assigning 'invented' names would not alter the fact that Arunachal Pradesh was and will always be India's territory. 

"We have seen such reports. 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. 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," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

China renames places in Arunachal Pradesh

On Wednesday, China announced names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet, which it claims to be 'South Tibet'. The announcement was made by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs which said that it had standardized in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of 15 places in Zangnan' (Arunachal Pradesh), state-run Global Times reported. Among the 15 names, 8 are residential places, 4 are mountains, 2 are rivers and 1 is a mountain pass, the report said.

The eight residential places in the second batch are Sngkezong and Daglungzong in Cona County of Shannan Prefecture, Mani'gang, Duding, and Migpain in Medog County of Nyingchi, Goling, Damba in Zayu County of Nyingchi, and Mejag in Lhunze County of Shannan Prefecture, the Global Times report said. The four mountains are Wamo Ri, Du Ri, Lhnzhub Ri, and Kunmingxingz Feng, it said. The two rivers are Xenyogmo He and Dulain He, and the mountain pass is named Se La, in Cona County. 

This is not the first time that China has unilaterally attempted to change the status quo in the 3,488 km long-disputed area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In 2017, it had released its first batch of the standardized names of six places. Its claims over Arunachal Pradesh have been firmly rejected by the MEA on numerous occasions.

(With agency inputs)