New Delhi, April 13
India on Sunday said China’s move to assign “fictitious names” to Indian territory to manufacture “baseless narratives” cannot alter the reality but could impact ongoing efforts to normalise bilateral ties.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi “categorically rejects” any “mischievous attempts” by the Chinese side to assign such names to places which form part of the Indian territory.
India had reacted sharply when China resorted to renaming certain places in Arunachal Pradesh in May last year as well as in April 2024.
“India categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India,” Jaiswal said.
“Such attempts by China at introducing false claims and manufacturing baseless narratives cannot alter the undeniable reality that these places and territories, including Arunachal Pradesh, were, are, and will always remain an integral part of India,” MEA spokesperson Jaiswal said.
MEA spokesperson Jaiswal further said these actions by the Chinese side “detract from ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise India-China bilateral ties”.
“China should refrain from actions which inject negativity into relations and undermine efforts to create a better understanding,” he added.
The relations between the two countries witnessed a major downturn following the 2020 eastern Ladakh border row. In the last one-and-a-half years, the two sides have initiated a series of measures to rebuild the relations.
In a recent list, China has renamed certain places in Indian territory.
The Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry released the first list of six places in Zangnan in 2017, followed by a second list of 15 places in 2021, and another list of 11 places in 2023.
Zangan is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet.
