India has firmly rejected China’s latest objections to New Delhi’s official identification of 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh, saying the northeastern state is an inseparable part of the country
India has firmly rejected China’s latest objections to New Delhi’s official identification of 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh, saying the northeastern state is an inseparable part of the country and that no attempt to change place names can alter this reality.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India’s position on Arunachal Pradesh was clear and unchanged.
His remarks came after Beijing described India’s latest map update as “illegal, null and void” and again claimed the region as part of Chinese territory.
The dispute follows India’s August 7 update of its official maps, which includes recognised Indian names for 27 geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh. The list covers settlements, mountain passes, a lake and a war memorial.
India says map update reflects existing position
The latest move does not represent a new territorial claim by India. The map update, carried out by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the Arunachal Pradesh government, formally records the Indian names of locations that New Delhi has long considered part of its territory.
Jaiswal stressed that Arunachal Pradesh’s status as an integral part of India was not open to question. He said nothing could change what India considers an established and indisputable reality.
The update also comes against the backdrop of repeated attempts by China to assign its own names to places in Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing has argued that such locations fall within what it calls “Zangnan” or southern Tibet.
Beijing rejects ‘Arunachal Pradesh’
China responded sharply to the Indian move on August 10. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing did not recognise what it described as the “so-called Arunachal Pradesh” and rejected India’s use of its own names for locations in the state.
China argued that India’s attempt to replace names used by Beijing with Indian names was invalid and would not alter what it considers Chinese territory.
Beijing has previously objected to India’s references to Arunachal Pradesh and has repeatedly criticised official visits by Indian leaders to the state.
China has its own renaming exercise
India’s latest map update is significant in the context of China’s own efforts to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh.
Since 2017, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has released six lists assigning what Beijing describes as standardised Chinese and Tibetan names to locations in the Indian state.
New Delhi has consistently rejected these moves, maintaining that changing geographical names cannot affect territorial sovereignty.
Border dispute remains sensitive
The Arunachal Pradesh row comes as India and China continue efforts to manage tensions along their disputed border. Although the two sides have taken steps to stabilise ties, territorial claims remain a major source of friction.
India has maintained that its administrative and development activities in Arunachal Pradesh are matters of domestic governance.
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