China asserts claim to Indian-held Arunachal Pradesh in latest list of place names
- Beijing has never accepted India’s control of the border region, which it calls Zangnan
- New Delhi dismissed China’s claims to the area as ‘absurd’ after Beijing protested about a recent visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi
China has renamed 30 more places in a disputed border region with India in an attempt to assert its claims in a bitter territorial dispute.
On Saturday the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs published the country’s latest set of “standardised” names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls Zangnan, and says is part of the Tibetan autonomous region.
The renaming covered 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass and a piece of land, all given in Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin, the Roman alphabet version of Mandarin Chinese.
The ministry, which is responsible for the establishment and naming of administrative divisions, also included detailed latitude and longitude and a high-resolution map.
“In accordance with the relevant provisions of the State Council [China’s cabinet] on the management of geographical names, we in conjunction with the relevant departments have standardised some of the geographical names in Zangnan of China,” said the ministry.
The new list includes more parts of the disputed area than the three previous renamings over the past seven years.
China and India have never agreed on their border demarcation and since a short but bloody war over the issue in 1962 they have been divided by the 3,200km (1,990-mile) Line of Actual Control – although they have not even been able to agree on where that lies.
The current border between Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet is based on the British colonial McMahon line, which China has never accepted.
Earlier this month China protested about a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the territory. India responded to the complaint by saying China’s claim to the territory was “absurd”.
The United States has backed India’s position, with the State Department recently saying that it “recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory” and “strongly opposes” any efforts to change the position.
China hit back, with defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian saying on Thursday: “The US has a terrible record of stoking disputes between other countries for its selfish gains. The international community sees it clearly.
“China and India have well-established border-related mechanisms and channels of communication. The two sides have the ability and willingness to properly handle the boundary question through dialogue and consultations.
However, he also rejected India’s right to the territory by saying: “It is an undeniable fact that Zangnan has been Chinese territory since ancient times, where does the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ come from?”
The comments came a day after Chinese and Indian officials met in Beijing to discuss their border dispute.
A statement from China said: “The two sides agreed to … reach a solution acceptable to both sides as soon as possible, and promote the transition of the border situation into a normalised phase of control and management,” said the Chinese readout of the meeting.
The two countries also have a long-running border dispute thousands of kilometres to the west, between Chinese-held Aksai Chin and Indian-controlled Kashmir and Ladakh, which resulted in a deadly clash four years ago in the Galwan Valley.
China has also been working to improve relations with India’s neighbours. Apart from its “iron brother” Pakistan, it has been trying to boost ties with the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
