India rejects China bid to validate its claim over Arunachal, says invented names won’t alter reality

NEW DELHI: Rejecting China's efforts to validate its claim over Arunachal Pradesh by renaming villages in the state, the government on Tuesday reiterated that the northeastern state will always remain a part of India.
Beijing had on Monday issued Chinese names for 11 places in Arunachal in what was the third such exercise since 2017. On this occasion, the move followed India's decision last month to host a G20 meeting in capital Itanagar. China, which claims the state saying it is a part of southern Tibet, had not participated in the meeting.

Responding to the renaming, foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright."
"Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality," he added.
China had launched its renaming exercise in Arunachal in 2017 when it released Chinese names for six places. It followed this up with the renaming of 15 more places in 2019.
The official names of 11 more places were released on Sunday by China's ministry of civil affairs. It also gave precise coordinates, including two land areas, two residential areas, five mountain peaks and two rivers and listed the category of places' names and their subordinate administrative districts, state-run Global Times reported on Monday.