BEIJING: China, on Wednesday (April 05), has claimed that the Northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh is its territory.
“Zangnan (Arunachal Pradesh) is part of China’s territory,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.
This statement from China came just a day after India rejected the act of Chinese government ‘renaming’ 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
Mao Ning said: “In accordance with relevant stipulations of the administration of geographical names of the State Council, competent authorities of the Chinese government have standardized the names of some parts of Zangnan (Arunachal Pradesh).”
“This is within China’s sovereign rights,” she added.
On Tuesday (April 04), the Indian government had rejected the new names given by China to at least 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh.
“We reject this outright,” Arindam Bagchi, official spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) had said.
“Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said.
He added: “Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality.”
On the other hand, the United States (US) has stated that it “strongly opposes” the attempts made by China to assert its claim on Arunachal Pradesh.
“United States …strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance a territory claim by renaming localities (in Arunachal Pradesh),” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
It may be mentioned here that on Sunday (April 02), China released a third batch of standardised geographical names for 11 localities in Arunachal Pradesh in its latest attempt to reaffirm its claim over the Northeast state.
The names were released by China’s ministry of civil affairs, complying with state council laws on geographical names.
China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as “Zangnan, the southern section of Tibet.”
The ministry listed the official names of two land areas, two residential areas, five mountain peaks, and two rivers, along with precise coordinates and their respective administrative districts.
The first batch of standardised names for six locations was released by China in 2017, followed by the second batch of 15 locations in 2021.