Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: With China undertaking another exercise to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, India has categorically rejected “any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India”. In a statement, ministry of external affairs (MEA) said such actions detract from the ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise India-China ties. Govt further said that China should refrain from moves which inject negativity into relations. Beijing has given Chinese names to 23 places in Arunachal in what is the 6th such exercise in the past 10 years to reinforce its claim over the Indian state it calls Zangnan. “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 and inalienable part of India,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. India’s response also followed reports from Beijing that China had set up a new county in its Xinjiang province, apparently to ramp up security along the narrow Wakhan Corridor to curb infiltration of Uyghur separatist militants. A PTI report said the county named Cenling is located near the Karakoram mountain range and close to the borders with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan, underscoring its strategic significance. This is the third new county established by China in Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim Uyghur region, in just over a year. India had last year lodged a protest with China over creation of Hean and Hekang counties, stating that parts of their jurisdiction fall within Ladakh. China has in the past renamed places in Arunachal Pradesh five times – in 2017, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. On the last occasion – in 2025 – India had described the exercise as preposterous, saying that creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh remains an integral and inalienable part of India. China claims not just Tawang in Arunachal but effectively the entire state, saying it’s a part of south Tibet, even as the Tibetan govt-in-exile holds that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India. China cites examples like the second-most important Tibetan Buddhism monastery being in Tawang and the 6th Dalai Lama being born there to back its claim.
