Days after China released a list of 30 new names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, the US on Tuesday criticized Beijing’s move, calling it an attempt to reassert its territorial claims, the South China Morning Post reported. Described as another “one-sided attempt”.
“The United States firmly opposes any unilateral attempt to advance territorial claims by incursion or encroachment, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control,” the South China Morning Post quoted a US State Department representative as saying on Tuesday. Does.”
Earlier, India had strongly rejected the Chinese move as “senseless” and said assigning an “invented” name would not change the reality that the state “is, has been and always will be an integral part of India.” Will remain”.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “China continues with its foolish attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We strongly reject such attempts.”
“Giving a fabricated name will not change the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, is and will always be an integral and inseparable part of India,” he said.
On Sunday, the state-run Global Times reported that China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardized geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims is part of southern Tibet.
Even in April last year, when Beijing released the third list of standardized names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, India had reacted sharply.
“We are Indians and will remain Indians” direct message from the youth of Arunachal Pradesh to China
The first batch of standardized names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh was released in 2017, while the second batch of 15 places was released in 2021.
Last month, a tunnel inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Arunachal Pradesh became the latest flashpoint. As India and China traded warnings and made overlapping claims of national sovereignty, Washington openly sided with its Indo-Pacific partner New Delhi – angering Beijing.
“The United States recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory,” a State Department representative said at a press conference.
Beijing then accused Washington of trying to “provoke and exploit other countries’ conflicts to serve its own selfish geopolitical interests.”
After remaining largely neutral on the dispute for decades, the US has in recent years strengthened its cooperation with New Delhi, including using intelligence as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy to check Chinese activity in the region. Involves a more active role in sharing information.
On Monday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during his visit to Gujarat, emphasized that Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will remain an Indian state in the future.
Addressing a press conference in Surat, he had said that nothing would be achieved by changing the name.
Jaishankar had said, “If I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was an Indian state, is an Indian state and will remain so in the future. Nothing will be achieved by changing the name.”
Relations between India and China came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border dispute that began in May 2020.
Indian and Chinese troops have been in a standoff at some friction points in eastern Ladakh for more than three years, even as both sides completed withdrawal of troops from several areas after extensive diplomatic and military talks.
India has consistently maintained that peace along the LAC is important for normalization of overall relations.