In its latest attempt to lay claim to areas inside the Indian territory, the Chinese government on Sunday announced it would “standardise” the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh. 

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs on Sunday released the standardised names of 11 places for Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls "Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet" in accordance with regulations on geographical names issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet. China has released names in Chinese, Tibetan and pinyin characters as part of its efforts to reemphasise its claim over the Indian state.

This is Beijing’s third such list on Arunachal Pradesh, attempting to “rename” places by giving them what it calls “standardised geographical names”. In 2017, the Chinese Ministry of Civilian Affairs put out a similar list of six places, and in December 2021, released a list of 15 places that it sought to rename.

The notification dated April 2 said that “according to the relevant provisions of the State Council on the management of geographical names, [China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs], together with relevant departments, has standardised some geographical names in southern Tibet. The third batch of supplementary place names for public use in southern Tibet (11 in total) is now officially announced.”

The 11 places named include five mountain peaks, two more populated areas, two land areas and two rivers. The claimed geographical area has always been controlled and administered by India. An appended list released by China included names in Mandarin, Tibetan, Pinyin (English transliteration) of the 11 places along with exact Latitude and Longitude coordinates. A map that is also part of the announcement shows much of Arunachal Pradesh marked as Zangnan, in the south of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, that China calls Xizang.

India has previously dismissed the Chinese move of renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state has “always been” and will “always be” an integral part of India and that assigning “invented” names does not alter this fact.

“This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in December 2021.

“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,” he had said.

Image source: AFP