New Delhi: India on Tuesday "firmly" rejected the renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh by China, "asserting that assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India."
The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement, said, China persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts."
India's response came after China renamed 30 places along the line of actual control (LAC) in India's northeastern state, Arunachal Pradesh.
As per reports, the Chinese ministry of civil affairs released the fourth list of “standardised” geographical names in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing calls Zangnan.
The list of places renamed by China includes 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass, and a piece of land.
Earlier, BJP leader and MP from Arunachal Pradesh Kiran Rijiju condemned the renaming of several areas in Arunachal Pradesh by China and said that the baseless claims made by China will not change the ground reality.
"I strongly condemn China's illegally'standardised' geographical names given to 30 places inside Arunachal Pradesh. China has been making all baseless claims, but that's not going to change the ground reality and the 'historical facts'," he said.
Taking the social media platform X, he wrote, "Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of India, and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are supremely patriotic Indians by all standards and definitions."