In the face of persistent efforts by China to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, India remains resolute in its rejection.
Ministry of External Responds to Media query on April 2, 2024
Official Spokesperson of MEA Randhir Jaiswal underscored India’s firm stance: “China’s relentless attempts to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh are unequivocally rejected by India. We stand firm in our assertion that such actions hold no merit. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inseparable part of India, both historically and legally, and no fabricated names will alter this reality.”
Dismissing China’s claims, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, “changing names does not have any effect”. “Mai apke ghar ka naam badal dun to mera ghar ban jayega kya? (If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine),” he said. Jaishankar also added that the Indian Army is deployed at the Line of Actual Control.
Background
On one hand, China is trying to resolve border disputes with India, while on the other hand, it is not desisting from giving Chinese names to different places including Arunachal Pradesh. This time, on the occasion of the 74th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, China for the fourth time has given Chinese names to a total of 30 places in India along with Arunachal Pradesh.
Apart from naming Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese Jangnan, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has also renamed 11 inhabited areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass and place names in Chinese, Tibetan and Pinyin i.e. Mandarin (Chinese) languages. Names are given in the Roman alphabet.
Within hours of India’s strong reaction, China’s embassy in the capital Delhi started touting the historical relations between the two countries on its X account. The embassy wrote that April 1 is the 74th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and India. “We must abide by the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, appropriately handle differences, promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations on the path of modernization, and benefit the people of the two countries.”
Is this the first time for a name change?
However, this is not the first time that China has named Arunachal Pradesh. Last year too, in the month of April, China had named Arunachal Pradesh as Janganan and released a new map. But after a few days, Home Minister Amit Shah made India’s intentions clear by visiting the Line of Actual Control (LC) adjacent to Arunachal Pradesh. Only last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh and e-inaugurated the strategically important Sela Tunnel.
Only last week, a meeting of diplomats from India and China was held in Beijing. In this meeting, there was discussion on resolving the border dispute peacefully.
Responding to media queries during the weekly briefing last month, MEA official spokesperson Jaiswal said: “The 29th meeting of the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on India-China border affairs was held on March 27th in Beijing. On our side, the delegation was led by a joint secretary in East Asia in the Ministry of External Affairs. The Chinese side was led by the Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Adding, “The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on how to achieve complete disengagement and resolve the remaining issues along the line of actual control in the western sector of India-China border areas. In the interim, both sides agreed to maintain regular contact through diplomatic and military channels and to uphold peace and tranquillity on the ground in the border areas in accordance with existing bilateral agreements and protocols.”
When was the first time China renamed places?
The first time China renamed places was in 2017; it has been reported previously in Financial Express Online, in 2021 when Beijing released the second list of 15 places in 2021 followed by another list with names for 11 places in 2023.
Last month, Jaishankar in response to a question on the Arunachal issue while delivering a lecture at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS), dismissed China’s repeated claims on Arunachal Pradesh as “ludicrous” and that the frontier state was a “natural part of India”.
“This is not a new issue. I mean, China has laid claim, it has expanded its claim. The claims are ludicrous to begin with and remain ludicrous today,” he said.
