(TibetanReview.net, Mar20’24) —India on Mar 19 reiterated its offhanded rejection of China’s claim over its northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “absurd” and “baseless”, two days after the latter’s military sought to reassert it on the basis of its illegal annexation of Tibet in 1951.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) accused the Chinese defence ministry of advancing “absurd claims” over the Indian territory of Arunachal Pradesh which it said will always be an “integral and inalienable part of India”.
“Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity. 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,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
The MEA statement said it was in response to media queries on comments made by the spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry regarding Arunachal Pradesh.
The MEA statement came after China’s Chinese Defence Ministry Spokesman Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang said that what he called the southern part of Xizang (the Chinese name for Tibet) is an inherent part of China’s territory, and Beijing “never acknowledges and firmly opposes” the “so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India”.
Zhang made the remarks in response to India’s enhancement of its military preparedness through the Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, according to a report posted on the Chinese Defence Ministry’s website on Mar 15. The tunnel was inaugurated by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Mar 9 visit to the state. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reacted Mar 12 by saying Beijing was firmly opposed to Modi’s activities in the region, adding his government had lodged a diplomatic protest with India.
India at that time rejected Wang’s protest and criticism. “Objecting to such visits or India’s developmental projects does not stand to reason,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a statement. “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,” it added.
China, which calls Arunachal Pradesh Zangnan (South or Southern Tibet), routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to the state to highlight its claims, based on the assumption that Tibet is not an occupied territory.
Meanwhile, China also made it clear Mar 15 that geographical names in ethnic minority or foreign languages should reflect the country’s sovereign and extraterritorial claims when translated into Chinese characters.
Its Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued a series of standardized Chinese names for placenames in “Zangnan” (Arunachal Pradesh) since 2017, beginning with names of six places in 2017, 15 in 2021, and 11 in Apr 2023.
Using standard place names helps raise awareness of Chinese territory, China’s official globaltimes.cn Mar 16 cited unnamed Chinese “experts” as saying.