(TibetanReview.net, Apr03’24) — The United States has on Apr 2 criticized China’s Mar 30 announcement of a list of 30 new names for places in the India state of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it yet another “unilateral attempt” to reassert its territorial claims. China calls the state “Zangnan” (or southern part of Tibet) on the supposition of the legitimacy of its annexation of Tibet.
“The United States strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control,” the scmp.com Apr 3 quoted a US State Department representative as saying.
The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs had on Mar 30 announced its fourth list since 2017 of “standardised” names for places, including mountains, rivers, residential areas in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. These were written in Mandarin Chinese characters, Tibetan, and pinyin, the Roman alphabet version of Mandarin Chinese.
On Apr 1, India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the Chinese move as a “senseless attempt” at “inventing” names and “altering reality”.
Besides, India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said on the same day: “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.”
And he made it clear, “Our army is deployed at the Line of Actual Control.”
The United States at that time too made it clear in a State Department representative press briefing that it “recognizes Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory.”
Beijing then accused Washington of trying “to provoke and take advantage of other countries’ conflicts to serve its selfish geopolitical interests”.
India and China have held 21 rounds of military-level talks since 2020, when at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a fight along the border. No breakthrough was achieved during the latest meeting in Feb 2024 as both sides agreed to keep communicating while also positioning extra troops and equipment.
India and China historically never had a border issue inasmuch as the two countries stood separated by the Tibetan buffer state. It all changed with China’s illegal annexation of Tibet in 1951. This was followed by India signing a trade agreement with China in which it recognized Tibet as an autonomous region of the latter.
Disagreements over the poorly demarcated border led to a war between the countries in 1962 and the problem continues to this day, with occasional flareups.
Arunachal Pradesh holds significant cultural and historical ties to Tibet and is of strategic interest to both India and China. The US has increasingly aligned with India, sharing real-time intelligence and strengthening cooperation as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy to counter Chinese influence in the region, noted the timesofindia.com Apr 3.
The Biden administration’s National Defence Strategy emphasizes support for allies and partners facing “acute forms of grey zone coercion” from China, including in areas like the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and the disputed land borders with India. The US’s proactive sharing of intelligence with India regarding Chinese military positions along the Line of Actual Control exemplifies this commitment to countering Chinese territorial ambitions., the report added.