China renames 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh for the third time

China has renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as South Tibet, in a move that is set to deepen mistrust between Delhi and Beijing at a time when the two countries are in the midst of the worst bilateral cold snap in decades.
The changed names include the names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas. This is the third time China has unilaterally renamed places in Arunachal Pradesh, in April 2017 and December 2021.
Indian officials did not immediately respond to the development. People familiar with the matter said the Indian side was aware of the development, which was a continuation of similar steps taken by China in recent years.
The renaming has also been immediately rejected by India in the past, with New Delhi reiterating that the northeastern state will always remain an integral and “inseparable” part of India.
“In accordance with the relevant regulations of the State Council (China’s cabinet) on the management of geographical names, our ministry, together with relevant departments, has standardized some geographical names in southern Tibet,” China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a brief statement on Sunday. .
This means that Tibetan place names will now also be available in Pinyin – the standard romanization of Mandarin characters – on Chinese maps.
“The official names of the 11 places were released by the ministry on Sunday and also gave exact coordinates, including two land areas, two residential areas, five mountain peaks and two rivers. It also listed the categories of place names and the administrative districts under them,” state-run tabloid Global Times said in a report on the government announcement on Monday.
The report added that this is the third batch of “Zangnan standardized geographical names issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs”.
A state media report quoted Zhang Yongpan of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Chinese Border Studies as saying that China’s move to standardize names “falls within China’s sovereignty”.
Lian Xiangmin, an expert at the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, told the tabloid that more “standardized” sites in the region would be announced in the future. Beijing claims Zangnan (the southern part of Chinese Tibet) as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China.
It was not immediately clear why China decided to release the new names now, but given the state of ties, it is not surprising that Beijing has switched to New Delhi. The name change will not have any direct impact on the places in Arunachal Pradesh mentioned in 11.
In 2017, the name changes were made on 13 April, a day after Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama left Arunachal Pradesh after a high-profile nine-day high-level visit. Beijing calls the Dalai Lama a splittist and says he wants to create an independent Tibet.
Before the new Border Security Act comes into effect in January 2021, Beijing has renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh. India rejected China’s move in 2021, saying such moves would not change the region’s status as an integral part of the country.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at the time: “This is not the first time that China has attempted such renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh… Arunachal Pradesh has always been and always will be an integral part of India. Assigning fictitious names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not change that fact.”
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