Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: India has firmly rejected China’s renewed efforts to rename locations in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it a “futile” exercise aimed at asserting territorial claims over the northeastern Indian state. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)reaffirmed that Arunachal Pradesh remains an undeniable and inalienable part of India, regardless of Beijing’s repeated attempts to alter ground realities through maps and nomenclature.
India’s response to China’s renaming push
“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Wednesday. He added, “Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”
In 2024, China released a list of 30 renamed locations within Arunachal Pradesh, which India dismissed outright. Beijing refers to the state as “Zangnan”, or the “southern part of Tibet,” despite clear Indian jurisdiction since 1947.
Strategic, environmental concerns fuel tensions
The dispute over Arunachal Pradesh is not just historical—it also involves growing strategic and ecological concerns. China is constructing what is expected to be the world’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, just before it crosses into India as the Siang River, eventually becoming the Brahmaputra in Assam.
Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament and Arunachal BJP President, warned that the mega-dam could function as a “water bomb” against India and downstream nations. “China has already decided to construct a dam which will have the capacity to produce 60,000 MW of electricity,” Gao said, pointing out that sudden releases from such a dam could cause catastrophic floods.
He recalled the June 2000 floods in Arunachal Pradesh, which were allegedly caused by an upstream release from China, destroying over ten bridges in the region. Gao advocated for India to build counter-dams to manage and mitigate future threats from abrupt water discharges.
Closing Note
With diplomatic tensions persisting, India continues to push back against what it views as cartographic aggression by China. Strategic infrastructure and environmental security in the eastern Himalayan region remain key national concerns as the situation evolves.
