China on Tuesday said its policy of seeking to improve relations with India remains unchanged, even as it defended its decision to release new names for several places in Arunachal Pradesh.
India on Sunday strongly rejected China’s attempts to assign “fictitious names” to locations within its territory, saying such actions promote “baseless narratives” and could undermine efforts to normalise bilateral ties.
The Ministry of External Affairs said, “India categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India.”
Responding to the statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a briefing that “Zangnan is China’s territory” and that Beijing has never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh. Zangnan is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.
Guo said China has the sovereign right to standardise names in the region, defending Beijing’s publication of six batches of names for places in Arunachal Pradesh.
He added that overall China-India relations remain stable and reiterated that Beijing’s policy of improving ties with New Delhi has not changed.
“We hope the two sides will work in the same direction and take steps conducive to bilateral relations,” he said.
The exchange comes amid renewed tensions after China recently established Cenling county in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, near Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and close to the western sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
India had earlier protested Beijing’s creation of new administrative units in the region, saying parts of them fall within the Union Territory of Ladakh.
China has been issuing standardized names for locations in Arunachal Pradesh since 2017, a move India has consistently rejected, maintaining that renaming Indian territory cannot alter ground realities.
(With inputs from PTI)