China has once again stirred tensions with India by releasing a fresh list of “standard” place names for parts of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as Zangnan, as part of its broader territorial claims over the Indian state. The move has drawn sharp rebuke from India, which described it as a 'futile attempt' to alter established geopolitical realities.
On Wednesday, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh have been assigned Chinese names, covering a wide range of geographical features, including 15 mountains, five residential areas, four mountain passes, two rivers, and one lake. The names were provided in Chinese characters, Tibetan, and pinyin, accompanied by precise latitude and longitude coordinates and high-resolution maps.
“In accordance with the relevant provisions of the State Council [China’s cabinet] on the management of geographical names, we in conjunction with the relevant departments have standardised some of the geographical names in Zangnan of China,” the ministry stated.
The latest move marks the fifth instance since 2017 that Beijing has attempted to rename locations within Arunachal Pradesh. Previous lists were released in 2017, 2021, 2023, and 2024, covering dozens of places on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), an informal boundary that separates Indian and Chinese-controlled territories.
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India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) swiftly dismissed the Chinese move as “vain and preposterous.” In a strongly worded statement, the ministry said, “Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”
“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically,” the MEA further asserted.
The latest escalation comes despite ongoing diplomatic efforts to mend strained ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. In recent years, senior diplomats from both sides have engaged in regular talks, including a meeting in January where both nations pledged to reset their bilateral relationship.
As part of these efforts, China and India agreed earlier this year to ease visa processes, resume direct flights, and reopen the sacred Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar routes for Indian pilgrims, though no firm timelines have been set for these measures.
The historical dispute over Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of its Tibetan autonomous region, remains a key flashpoint in Sino-Indian relations.
The region, known as South Tibet in Chinese maps, is situated along the McMahon Line – a boundary drawn during British colonial rule, which India maintains as the legal border but China does not recognise.
In a notable remark last year, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had firmly dismissed China’s repeated attempts at territorial renaming. “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,” he had said, reflecting India’s firm stance on the matter.
The latest row over place names comes as both countries strive to balance strategic competition and economic cooperation amid a complex regional security landscape.
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