New Delhi, India, August 11 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh is an “inalienable and integral part of India,” referring to the dispute with China over the renaming of places in the border state.
“Let me reiterate this once again that Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable and integral part of India, and this is a fact that is self-evident. At the same time, let me also underline that nothing can change this indisputable reality,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a media briefing.
The remarks came after India formally identified 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names on the official Survey of India map, amid China’s repeated attempts to assign Chinese names to places in the state.
The government said the step is intended to ensure precise geographical recognition of these sites while enhancing public awareness of their historical and geographic importance.
New Delhi has consistently rejected Beijing’s practice of assigning names to areas within Arunachal Pradesh, calling such efforts “vain and preposterous” and maintaining that such actions can never alter the fundamental reality that the state “was, is, and will” remain an integral part of India.
Several of the 27 designated sites possess significant strategic and historical importance, including Long Ju, which witnessed an early Sino-Indian military clash in 1959, and Thag La, where initial engagements of the 1962 conflict took place.
The official list also includes Jairampur, a key logistical center in eastern Arunachal Pradesh, along with Jaswant Garh and the Sher-e-Thapa Memorial, both established to honor Indian soldiers who fought in the 1962 war.
The move follows Beijing’s release of multiple lists of designations for territories in Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as “Zangnan.”
China issued its first list of six names in 2017, followed by 15 designations in 2021 and an additional 11 in 2023.
India has consistently rejected these assertions as “fictitious,” stressing that such unilateral attempts merely seek to create “baseless narratives” without affecting the reality on the ground. (ANI)
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