In a major development, the United States has strongly opposed China’s claim of sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh, describing it as “unilateral attempts” by Beijing to assert its territorial claims. Biden administration’s response comes after China released a new list of Chinese names for 30 sites in India’s northeastern state.
“The United States strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by incursions or encroachments, military or civilian, across the Line of Actual Control,” a US State Department representative was quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Tuesday (2nd April). This statement by the United States is consistent with its reaction last month when it repeated the country’s stance and recognised Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory.
China has been referring to Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet and claiming ownership of the 90,000-square-kilometer province, which India has always said is an integral part of the country. Beijing has called the region ‘Zangnan’ and constantly opposes Indian leaders visiting the state to underscore its territorial claims.
On Tuesday (2nd April), India explicitly dismissed China’s renaming of some places in Arunachal Pradesh as “senseless” and maintained that awarding “invented” names does not change the reality that the state “is, has been, and will always be” an important part of India.
“China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts. 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,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
External Minister S Jaishankar also responded to China’s list of names, saying, “If I change the name of your house today, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be a state of India. Changing names does not have an effect.”
Last month, India rejected the “absurd claims” and “baseless arguments” made by China on Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the northeastern State of India is an “integral and inalienable part of India.” The Ministry of External Affairs said that the people of Arunachal Pradesh will continue to benefit from India’s development plans and infrastructure projects.
This is after the Chinese defence ministry on 15th March again tried to claim the Indian state, referring to it as “Zangnan- an inherent part of China’s territory”. India has time and again denied China’s territorial claims on its Northeastern state, stating that the state is an integral part of the country. New Delhi has also criticised Beijing’s move to give “invented” names to the territory, claiming that it does not change the facts. Notably, despite having no legal claim over Arunachal Pradesh, China has ‘named’ the territory “Zangnan”.