'If I Change Name Of Your House, Will It Become...': Jaishankar Hits Out China's Renaming Of Indian Territory

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has again slammed China for issuing new names for Indian territories, days after he dismissed Beijing’s wrongful claims regarding the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Jaishankar’s rebuke came as China released a fourth list of 30 new names of various places in Arunachal Pradesh. India has been rejecting China’s renaming of places in Arunachal, asserting that the state is an integral part of the country and assigning “invented” names does not alter this reality.

Speaking at the South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce, Jaishankar said, “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),” he was quoted as saying by ANI, in response to a question about China’s renaming of Indian territory.

Last week, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs released the fourth list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh which Beijing claims as part of south Tibet. According to state-run Global Times, the Chinese government posted 30 additional names for the region. The Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry released the first list of the standardised names of six places in Zangnan was released in 2017, while the second list of 15 places was issued in 2021 followed by another list with names for 11 places in 2023.

The recent statements by China to reassert its claims over the state started with Beijing lodging a diplomatic protest with India over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese government has issued a flurry of statements to highlight its claims. Jaishankar on March 23 dismissed China’s repeated claims on Arunachal Pradesh as “ludicrous” and that the frontier state was 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 said in response to a question on the Arunachal issue after delivering a lecture at the prestigious Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). “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 peeved over the US statement recognising Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on March 9 that “the US 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.”

(With agency inputs)