Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India, says MEA
India on Tuesday (April 2, 2024) firmly rejected "senseless attempts" to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh, reiterating that the state was an "integral and inalienable part of India ".
 
Responding to media queries on renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh by China, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said assigning invented names will not alter the reality.
 
The MEA statement came after the Chinese Ministry for Civil Affairs released the latest list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese term for Arunachal Pradesh, as per a report by the state-run Global Times. 
 
"China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts. Assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India," Jaiswal said.
 
Earlier, speaking at an event on Monday (April 1, 2024), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had also rejected attempts by China to claim Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory. "If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be a state of India. Changing names does not have an effect," he stated.
 
This is the fourth list of standardised names of places in Zangnan, as China describes Arunachal Pradesh, released since 2017. This is also the third time China has raked up the issue of Arunachal Pradesh after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on March 9, 2024.
 
"Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity," MEA Official Spokesperson Jaiswal said in response to media queries on March 19, 2024, a day after comments on Arunachal Pradesh by the Chinese Defence Ministry Spokesperson. 
 
"We have noted the comments made by the spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry advancing absurd claims over the territory of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh," Jaiswal said. "Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Its people will continue to benefit from our development programmes and infrastructure projects," he said.
 
The Chinese comments came a few days after India sent out a strong rebuttal to China for the latter's comments on Prime Minister Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh. In a statement on March 12, 2024, the MEA noted that China's objection to visits by Indian leaders or India's developmental projects "does not stand to reason".
 
"We reject the comments made by the Chinese side regarding the visit of the Prime Minister to Arunachal Pradesh. Indian leaders visit Arunachal Pradesh from time to time, as they visit other States of India. Objecting to such visits or India's developmental projects does not stand to reason," MEA Official Spokesperson Jaiswal said. 
 
China had been made aware of this consistent position on several occasions, he stated.