After India rejected China’s renaming of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, the US has also flayed Beijing for its “attempts to advance a claim over India’s territory.” The White House has said that the United States “strongly oppose” China’s attempts to advance a claim over Indian territory, Arunachal Pradesh by renaming localities.
“The United States, as you know, has recognised that territory for a long time and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance a territory claim by renaming localities. And so, again, this is something that we have long stood by a few things,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Sources told The Daily Guardian Indian diplomats have spoken to their counterparts from major countries, seeking their strong reaction to China’s move over Arunachal Pradesh. In another provoking statement, China said that ‘Zangnan’ was part of its territory and it was “within its sovereign rights” to rename the areas. India has already outright rejected this claim on previous occasions.
India is also planning to raise this issue in a big way at the possible RIC (Russia-India-China) trilateral forum meeting, which is likely to take place next month on the sidelines of the SCO conclave in Goa. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is understood to have held a meeting with top MEA officials where the strategy to counter China’s move was discussed. “New Delhi wants International community to come out with sharp reactions to China’s move to rename certain places in Arunachal Pradesh. Quad member states such as Australia and Japan are also expected to be critical of China for this,” sources said. “International community keeps underlining the need for respecting the sovereignty and integrity of every nation. What sense does it make if the global community remains silent on such action by China,” ask sources.
The US’ move to slam China for this is being appreciated by the MEA officials. Earlier also, in a bipartisan resolution passed by the US, the McMahon Line has been recognised as the international boundary between Arunachal Pradesh and China, with the north-eastern state being called an “integral part of India.” This could also be one of the reasons why China is trying to provoke India over Arunachal Pradesh, say officials.
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.
