“Can’t Change Reality”: India Regarding China’s Disapproval of the Arunachal Move

Last Monday, 27 locations and features in Arunachal Pradesh, India, were officially listed by their standard names on the official Indian map, despite China’s repeated renaming of several of the state’s locations. “Identifying them formally on the Survey of India map of Arunachal Pradesh is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large,” an official statement said.

New Delhi has consistently denounced China’s renaming of locations in Arunachal Pradesh, calling such actions “vain and preposterous” and claiming that they will not change the “undeniable” fact that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an essential part of India.

Long Ju, which is situated along the Line of Actual Control and was one of the first flashpoints between China and India when Chinese soldiers invaded the region in 1959, is one of the 27 locations officially designated on the official map of India.

China had on Monday termed India’s move to identify 27 places as “illegal, null and void”. “China does not recognise the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ illegally set up by India,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said while answering a question on India’s recent announcement.

“India’s move of attempting to replace names long been used by China with its so-called ‘standard names’ is illegal, null and void,” he said in a reply posted on the official website of the Foreign Ministry. “Still less will it change the fact that Zangnan region belongs to China,” he said.

China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as Zangnan and Tibet as Xizang. Since 2017, the Chinese names for various parts of Arunachal Pradesh have been released by China’s Civil Affairs Ministry on a regular basis to support China’s territorial claims. In April of this year, the final list of names was made public.

Chinese attempts to give Indian land “fictitious names” have been rejected by New Delhi, which claims that such attempts to fabricate “baseless narratives” cannot change “undeniable reality” and could sabotage attempts to normalise bilateral relations.

The Ministry of External Affairs reaffirmed on Tuesday that Arunachal Pradesh is an essential part of India and that nothing can alter this fact, rejecting China’s criticism of India’s decision to identify 27 locations and features in the region by their conventional names on the official Indian map.

“Arunachal is an inalienable and integral part of India. This is a fact which is self-evident and nothing can change this reality,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to questions on China’s objection.