India on Tuesday reminded China once again that inventing names to some places in Arunachal Pradesh will not change the reality as the northeastern border state has always been, and will always be an integral part of the country.
The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, responsible for social administrative affairs under the State Council, “standardized some geographical names in southern Tibet” on Sunday with all 11 places falling in India’s Arunachal Pradesh.
This is the third time that the Chinese ministry has announced “publicly used place names in southern Tibet” with similar attempts made in April 2017 and December 2021.
“We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright. Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in a statement.
India has repeatedly criticised Beijing’s continuous interference in the affairs of north-eastern states, especially Arunachal Pradesh.
As reported by IndiaNarrative.com earlier, in October 2021, New Delhi had reacted strongly to the comments made by the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on then Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to the state.
Replying to a question put by a local TV channel, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian had said that Beijing “firmly opposes the Indian leader’s visit” to an area that it has “never recognized”.
The MEA then said that objecting to the visit of Indian leaders to a state of India does not stand to reason and understanding of Indian people.
“We have noted the comments made today by the Chinese official spokesperson. We reject such comments. Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India,” the MEA had said.
India had also made it clear that the current situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas has been caused by unilateral attempts of the Chinese side to alter the status quo in violation of the bilateral agreements.
At the same time, New Delhi continues to bolster strategic connectivity to the northeastern states.
In January, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the signature steel arch bridge over Siyom river in Arunachal Pradesh which is not only of huge strategic importance along the India-China border but also provides connectivity to remote areas of the region.
Singh also dedicated 27 infrastructure projects constructed by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) at a cost of Rs 724.3 crore in the seven border states.
This included three bridges on the north Sikkim Lachen Axis and an 80-feet Thangu permanent bridge on strategic Kalep-Gaigong Road which will assure all-weather connectivity to local commuters and also enable speedy induction of troops and military equipment to forward areas.
The Defence Minister has also been visiting the forward posts along LAC in the region to make an on-ground assessment of the operational preparedness.
India continues to reiterate that it expects the Chinese side to work towards early resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh while fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols rather than trying to link unrelated issues.
Also Read: India to China – Inventing names to places in Arunachal Pradesh won’t change the reality
