(TibetanReview.net, Aug11’26) – China has on Aug 10 reacted to India’s issuance on Aug 7 of standardized names of 27 locations in its state of Arunachal Pradesh in a move to counter similar exercises undertaken by itself since 2017, calling it “null and void”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China does not recognize the so-called “Arunachal Pradesh”, saying it was illegally set up by India, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 10.
“Zangnan region is China’s territory,” Guo has maintained, using the name coined relatively recently by China to refer to the strategic border state of India as it began adopting a more assertive posture on laying claim to it.
“Zangnan” simply means Southern Tibet, or “southern part of the Xizang autonomous region” – “Xizang” being China’s Pinyin term for “Tibet”.
He has said “India’s move of attempting to replace names long used by China with its so-called ‘standard names’ is illegal, null and void.”
“Still less will it change the fact that Zangnan region belongs to China,” Guo has added.
While this was the first move by India, China has been carrying out similar exercises and has given its own “standardized names” to 112 locations in Arunachal Pradesh in six episodes since 2017, with the latest one on Apr 10 this year.
China has never ruled Arunachal Pradesh since the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct 1, 1949. Its troops first entered the state during the 1962 border aggression. It lasted one month and the Chinese troops withdrew after declaring a unilateral ceasefire.