(TibetanReview.net, Apr13’26) –For the sixth time since 2017, China has released a list of what it calls “standardized” names for places in Arunachal Pradesh to assert its territorial claim over the Indian state which New Delhi has dismissed as “mischievous” and “baseless”.
China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is “Zangnan” (southern Tibet) on the basis of its bogus assertion that Tibet has been part of it since ancient times.
The list, published by China’s ministry of civil affairs on Apr 10, covers a total of 23 mountain passes, peaks, rivers, and settlements. Each is assigned a name in Chinese characters, Tibetan script, and pinyin, with precise GPS coordinates, noted Indiansentinels.com Apr 13.
India on Apr 12 called the Chinese exercise a “mischievous attempt”, adding such “baseless narratives cannot alter the undeniable reality” on ground.
“India categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“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,” he added, responding to media queries.
He said such move undermines efforts to stabilise ties between the two countries.
“These actions by the Chinese side detract from ongoing efforts to stabilize and normalize India-China bilateral ties. China should refrain from actions which inject negativity into relations and undermine efforts to create better understanding,” he said.
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Noting a pattern in China’s release of such lists, the Indiansentinels.com report said that China first issued “standardised” names for six Arunachal locations in Apr 2017, shortly after the Dalai Lama visited Tawang monastery. Others followed with a list of 15 in Dec 2021, 11 in Apr 2023, 30 in Mar 2024, and 27 in May 2025. With the latest 23 entries, the total now comes to 112.
The report noted that the Mar 2024 move coincided with Prime Minister Modi’s inauguration of the Sela Tunnel, an all-weather high-altitude link to Tawang that improves troop mobility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The latest list arrives during a period of active diplomatic engagement – lending it the character of a calibrated signal rather than a routine update.
The report further noted that at least eight of the 23 entries in the latest, Apr 10, 20206 list are strategically sensitive terrain – mountain passes – suggesting the exercise is guided as much by security calculus as by administrative impulse.
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While India administers the entirety of the 83,743 sq km state, China has invested heavily in road networks and military infrastructure on the Tibetan plateau immediately north of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). India has responded in kind, accelerating its own border infrastructure programme.
Scholars describe China’s approach as “cartographic aggression” – the incremental normalisation of territorial claims through maps and administrative lists, a strategy also deployed in the South China Sea, the report noted.
India’s position is based on the Shimla Convention of 1914, which took place among Kuomintang ruled China, Tibet, and British-ruled India, which, among other things, demarcated the McMahon Line border between Tibet and India.