India Rejects The Change Of Names Of A Number Of Places In China's Claimed State

Gandhi Bridge di Jengging, Arunachal Pradesh, India. (Wikimedia Commons/Arunakhal Pradesh)

JAKARTA - India on Tuesday rejected the name change of a number of places in the region it considers its eastern state, Arunachal Pradesh, but Beijing claims to be part of its territory.

China and India are known to clash over the 3,800 km (2,360 miles) border which has been unclear since 1962.

Clashes in mountainous areas in recent years have made relations between the two neighboring countries and both have nuclear weapons tense.

The latest debate was sparked on Sunday, when the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a statement saying it had "embedded" the names of 11 places, including five mountains, in an area China calls the southern Tibetan region.

The statement included a map showing 11 places whose name was changed by China being in "Zangnan", or southern Tibet in Chinese, with Arunachal Pradesh included in southern Tibet and China's border with India which is limited to the north of the Brahmaputra River.

Responding to this, India firmly rejected Beijing's claims.

"Arunachal Pradesh is, has and will always be an inseparable and inseparable part of India," said Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi via his Twitter account.

However, a spokesman at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the name change was "completely within China's sovereign scope".

"The southern Tibetan region is Chinese territory," spokesman Mao Ning said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

It is known that at least 24 soldiers were killed when both sides were involved in clashes in the Ladakh region, in the western part of the border between the two countries in 2020. However, the situation became calm after diplomatic and military talks.

In December last year, troops from both sides were again involved in clashes in the Tawang sector, Arunachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said last month the situation in Ladakh was very fragile and dangerous, with military forces deployed very close to each other in several places.