Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, May 14: India has strongly rejected China’s latest attempt to unilaterally rename 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it a “vain and preposterous” move that holds no legitimacy. The newly released list by China includes 15 mountains, five residential areas, four mountain passes, two rivers, and one lake, marking the fifth such renaming exercise since 2017.
In a sharply worded statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically. Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”
The response came after China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the list under what it called “standardized geographical names” for what Beijing refers to as “Zangnan” or “southern Tibet”—a nomenclature New Delhi has consistently and categorically rejected.
Since 2017, China has renamed a total of 89 locations in Arunachal Pradesh. The latest batch follows previous lists released in 2017 (6 places), 2021 (15 places), 2023 (11 places), and 2024 (30 places). India reacted sharply each time, asserting that such unilateral actions held no bearing on the reality of the ground.
China’s latest move comes despite efforts in the past year to improve relations between the two countries after a long period of tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between the two countries.
The renaming of locations is widely viewed as part of China’s broader strategy to assert historical claims over Indian territory, a tactic India has consistently opposed. Analysts interpret these moves as symbolic posturing aimed at reinforcing Beijing’s position in the ongoing territorial dispute, especially following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020 and subsequent border stand-offs in eastern Ladakh.
In 2023, India inaugurated major infrastructure projects in the border state, including new roads and strategic tunnels to strengthen military logistics and civilian connectivity, moves that have further irked Beijing. As India continues to build infrastructure and strengthen military presence in the border regions, including Arunachal Pradesh, New Delhi has made it clear that it will not be deterred by rhetorical provocations or cartographic aggression.
Why should Indians care what China does? China can name whatever they want in whiceverh country they want and there is no need to make news about it. But the day Chinese step inside Indian border, we will make sure they are dealt with! We don’t need to worry about these 2 feet dwarfs!!!
India is paying a very high price for the phenomenal blunder it made in endorsing Chinese baseless, unfounded and spurious claims over Tibet! The glib rhetoric by the Chinese communists fooled Pandit Nehru and with his admiration of the communist Soviet Union, he felt at home with the Chinese communists who were full of guile to deceive the unsuspecting Indian leader. Nehru was a highly respected world leader on par with John F Kennedy of the US, Charles de Gaulle of France, Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and Stalin of the USSR. Nehru was very much influenced by Stalin and adopted the Soviet governance system. In the aftermath of the post colonial world, Nehru was a strong anti-colonialist and the Chinese communists played the anti-colonial card to wean Nehru to their side as a socialist block with the USSR. Tibet and its leader’s cry for help from the looming invasion and occupation of independent Tibet was sacrificed on the alter of Sino-India detente! In the sixties and seventies, India used the mantra of “Tibet is part of China” at every flare up between communist China and India. This is how India legitimised Chinese baseless claims over Tibet. Chinese claims over Tibet is fabrication and a distortion of history emanating from the Mongol and Manchu occupation of China! During these periods, the Chinese were themselves subjects of the Mongols and Manchus and had no rights over their own land. It was exactly like the present Chinese occupation of Tibet, whereby Tibetans have no say over their own country! SO, HOW COULD CHINA CLAIM SOVEREIGNTY OVER TIBET? Besides, neither the Mongols nor the Manchus ever ruled Tibet. TIBET WAS ALWAYS RULED BY TIBETANS THEMSELVES UNTIL THE COMMUNIST CHINESE OCCUPATION SINCE 17th OF MARCH 1959 WHEN THE LEGITIMATE TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL LEADER OF TIBET, THE 14th DALAI LAMA FLED TO INDIA! The present status of Tibet is COLONIAL OCCUPATION BY COMMUNIST CHINA.
In recent times, India and China have made attempts to patch up their differences after the frosty relationship in the wake of Galwan incident. Instead of making improvements further, the Chinese communists are once again at their mischief to name names of Indian territory. The Indians have been timid in their relationship with communist China. Every move they make is pussyfooting rather than demonstrate their discomfiture for Chinese provocation. Even the Phillipines under Marcos Jr is much more assertive than India when it comes to dealing with its neighbour. Pakistan has been emboldened by communist China and it is also said that China is testing its weapons by giving them to Pakistan in its showdown with India recently. India has no deterrent against China to stop its provocative actions except to support the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan freedom movement. India should give tacit recognition of the exile Tibetan Government and Prime Minister Modi or the President should meet the Dalai Lama in order to demonstrate its disquiet about Chinese malevolent actions such as naming of Indian territories and border incursions. Each time the Indian Government meets the Dalai Lama or the elected leader, it sends a very chilling message to the Chinese communists about the legitimacy of Chinese rule in Tibet and that will make the Chinese communists think twice before they embark upon their nefarious activities. It also should invite the elected leader known as Sikyong to address the Indian parliament in order to give him a platform to talk about Tibetan grievances on the illegal and brutal occupation of Tibet by communist China. Without deterring the Chinese communists, they are stamping their ownership of Indian territory by such diabolical tactics. This is how the imperialist Mongols, Manchu’s, the Republican Chinese and communist regimes distorted the history of Tibet-China relations and finally used violent military force to invade and occupy Tibet. The communists are using the same tactic with Taiwan by concocting history about UN Resolution 2758. This resolution passed on 25th October 1971 only stated that the people’s republic of China (PRC) as “the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations” and “removed the representatives of Chiang Kai-Shek. THERE IS NO MENTION OF TAIWAN YET THE CCP IS USING THIS RESOLUTION TO CLAIM TAIWAN AND ALSO PREVENT TAIWAN’S INTERNATIONAL SPACE INCLUDING COERCING POOR COUNTRIES LIKE SOMALIA TO BAN TAIWANESE PASSPORT UNDER THE PRETEXT OF “ONE CHINA” POLICY! TIBET HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SO CALLED “ONE CHINA” policy yet the CCP has deliberately inserted Tibet in its diplomatic relation with other countries. The Tibetan exile Government has also been capitulating to the CCP by never rebutting Chinese claims over Tibet and accepting illegal Chinese occupation of Tibet as fait accompli. TIBETANS HAVE BECOME APOLOGISTS OF THE OCCUPATION OF OUR COUNTRY BY COMMUNIST CHINA! Most shamefully the present incumbent even went as far as claiming “at the moment Tibet is part of China”!!! This goes to show the abject callousness of our leaders about the ownership of our country. It almost seems they couldn’t care less who owns our country as long as they can keep the Chinese communists happy! This is the state of affairs in exile. They are scared of being called separatists! But no matter what they did to suck up to the CCP, not an iota of reciprocal gesture has been forthcoming from the Chinese communist imperialists. If they call us separatists, we can rebut by saying, TIBET WAS NEVER PART OF CHINA. SO, THERE IS NO QUESTION OF SEPARATISM! ISN’T THAT THE TRUTH?