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Jaishankar slams China over its new list ‘renaming’ places in Arunachal Pradesh
Earlier in the day, the Chinese ministry of civil affairs released the list of changed names in Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls as ‘Zangnan’
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday rejected China's claim on Arunachal Pradesh, after the Communist nation released a fourth list of 30 new names of various places in the northeastern state.
"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...Our army is deployed there (Line of Actual Control)..." the minister was quoted by ANI as saying at a briefing in Gujarat's Surat.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese ministry of civil affairs released the list of changed names in Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls as ‘Zangnan’ and a part of South Tibet, the Global Times stated.
The official website of the ministry posted 30 additional names for the region. Set to take effect from May 1, the implementation measures stipulate in Article 13 that "place names in foreign languages that may harm China's territorial claims and sovereignty rights shall not be directly quoted or translated without authorisation," the report said.
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Last month, Jaishankar had termed China's claim on Arunachal as ‘ludicrous’, and asserted that the state is a natural part of India. “This is not a new issue. I mean China has laid claim, it has expanded its claim. The claims are ludicrous to begin with and remain ludicrous today," he had said.
"So, I think we've been very clear, very consistent on this. And I think you know that is something which will be part of the boundary discussions which are taking place," he said.
Beijing was also angry over the US statement recognising Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory.
US State department's principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “The United States recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control.”
