Slamming China for changing the names of several parts of Northeast’s Arunachal Pradesh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday wondered what would be China’s reaction if India made a similar attempt and started calling those areas of the neighbouring its territory, reported news agency PTI.
Speaking at a poll rally at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh East Constituency, Singh said China’s move to change the names of 30 places in the northeastern state will “not change the ground reality”.
“Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India, he asserted. I want to ask China if we change the names of various states of the neighbouring country, will those be parts of our territory? Because of such activities, the relation between India and China will deteriorate,” Singh said.
“We want to maintain good relations with all our neighbours. But if anybody tries to harm our self-respect, India has the capability to give a befitting reply,” the defence minister asserted.
India had earlier this month outrightly rejected as “senseless” China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that assigning “invented” names does not alter the reality that the state “is, has been, and will always be” an integral part of India. Beijing had recently announced Chinese names for 30 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as southern part of Tibet.
Recently, the Biden administration also criticised Beijing’s list of new names for places in Arunachal Pradesh as yet another “unilateral attempt” by China to reassert its territorial claims.
“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 as saying by South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The remark was in line with the State Department’s response last month when it reiterated the country’s stance, recognising Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory.