China Renames 15 Places Of Arunachal In Its Map, India Says Invented Names Don't Alter Status

India has reacted sharply to China's move to rename some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims is South Tibet, on its map.

"We have seen such. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

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"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 said.

Earlier, Beijing had announced the Chinese names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it sees as its territory.

China¡¯s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a statement stating they have ¡®standardised¡¯ names for 15 places in Arunachal, to be used on Chinese maps. They announced Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet names for places in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh, state-run Global Times reported on Thursday.

This is in accordance with regulations on geographical names issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, it said in a report.

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Among the official names of the 15 places, which were given exact longitude and latitude, eight are residential places, four are mountains, two are rivers and one is a mountain pass, the report said.

The eight residential places in the second batch are Sengkezong and Daglungzong in Cona County of Shannan Prefecture, Mani'gang, Duding and Migpain in Medog County of Nyingchi, Goling, Damba in Zayu County of Nyingchi, and Mejag in Lhunze County of Shannan Prefecture, the Global Times report said.

The four mountains are Wamo Ri, D¨ºu Ri, Lh¨¹nzhub Ri and Kunmingxingz¨º Feng, it said.

The two rivers are Xenyogmo He and Dulain He, and the mountain pass is named Se La, in Cona County.

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This is the second batch of standardised names of places in Arunachal Pradesh given by China.

The first batch of the standardised names of six places was released in 2017.

China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh came in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff that began in May last year.

The area has been claimed by China as it has never recognised the McMahon Line, which is the border between the two countries.

Instead, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has remained the de-facto border, and even this has been disputed by both sides.

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Due to the difference in perception by both sides, troops accidentally or deliberately entering the other side of LAC is not uncommon. Recently there were also reports of China building villages inside Arunachal Pradesh.

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