New Delhi: India has lashed out at China for giving "invented" names to several places in Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing has its eyes set on this remote state in northeast India and is looking to assert its sovereignty over the territory.
Several stretches in the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are disputed and it seems as if Beijing would not soften its rhetoric anytime soon.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs of China said that it had "standardized" the names of 15 places in Zangnan ("South Tibet") and gave formal Chinese names to all these places.
Beijing has labelled Arunachal Pradesh as "South Tibet" and claimed that China has historical links with the region.
The renaming of residential areas, rivers and mountains followed a similar move in 2017 involving six other locations in the same area.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India responded by saying that Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India.
"Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact," MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian reiterated Beijing's stance by saying that "Southern Tibet is in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, and has historically been Chinese territory."
The Spokesman also added that the renaming came within the scope of China's sovereignity.
The bilateral relationship between India and China suffered a huge blow when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers intruded into the Galwan Valley in June 2020 and 20 Indian soldiers were killed following a brawl.
Since then, multiple rounds of talks between New Delhi and Beijing proved to be futile and both the sides failed to de-escalate tensions.
Both the sides have militarized the LAC by deploying thousands of extra troops and military hardware.
It is to be noted that China does not recognize the MacMahon Line. This line marks the boundary between the China-occupied territory of the East Himalayan region and Indian regions.
This line was determined by Sir Henry MacMahon, then Foreign Secretary in the Government of British India. The length of this line is 890 kilometers.
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