China has created a new set of names for 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh, referring to them as “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet,” in an effort to emphasise its increased claim over India’s Arunachal Pradesh.
Following guidelines on geographic names given by the State Council, China’s cabinet, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China published the standardised names in Chinese, Tibetan, and Pinyin characters.
Two land regions, two residential areas, five mountain peaks, two rivers, and their corresponding administrative subdivisions are all given exact coordinates on the list.
The third batch of standard geographic names for Arunachal Pradesh has been declared by China’s civil affairs ministry, according to the state-run Global Times, following the announcement of the first batch of six locations in 2017 and the second batch of 15 locations in 2021.
China has previously attempted to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh, but India has previously rejected this effort, claiming that the state has always been and always will be a part of India and that giving places invented names does not alter this fact.
Chinese experts, who were cited by the news agency, said that the announcement of names is a legal action and that China has the sovereign right to standardise geographic names. However, the spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry stressed that giving Arunachal Pradesh’s locations made-up names does not change the fact that the state is a fundamental part of India.
