China on August 10 rejected India’s decision to assign standard names to 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh on its official map, calling the move “illegal, null and void” and reiterating Beijing’s territorial claim over the state.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China did not recognise what Beijing refers to as “Zangnan”, its term for Arunachal Pradesh, and argued that India’s naming exercise could not alter its position on the region.
“India’s move of attempting to replace names long been used by China with its so-called ‘standard names’ is illegal, null and void,” Guo said in a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official website.
“Still less will it change the fact that Zangnan region belongs to China,” he added.
China refers to Tibet as Xizang and Arunachal Pradesh as Zangnan.
The statement came days after India formally identified 27 locations and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh using their standard names on the official Indian map.
Beijing has periodically announced Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh since 2017, with China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs releasing the latest such list in April this year. The naming exercise has been part of Beijing’s efforts to reinforce its territorial claims over the northeastern state.
India has consistently rejected China’s attempts to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, maintaining that such actions have no bearing on the state’s status or the ground reality.
New Delhi has repeatedly asserted that Arunachal Pradesh “was, is, and will” remain an integral part of India.
