Illegal, null and void: China rejects India’s standard names for 27 Arunachal features

China on Monday rejected India's move to assign standard names to 27 places and features in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “illegal, null and void”. Beijing reiterated its claim over the region, while India maintains Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of the country

Beijing: China on Monday termed India’s move to identify 27 places and features in Arunachal Pradesh by their standard names on the official Indian map as “illegal, null and void”. “China does not recognise the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ illegally set up by India,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said while answering a question on India’s recent announcement.

“India’s move of attempting to replace names long been used by China with its so-called ‘standard names’ is illegal, null and void,” he said in a reply posted on the official website of the Foreign Ministry.
“Still less will it change the fact that Zangnan region belongs to China,” he said.

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China calls Tibet as Xizang and Arunachal Pradesh Zangnan. With China repeatedly renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, India last week formally identified 27 places and features in the state by their standard names on the official Indian map.

China’s Civil Affairs Ministry has been periodically releasing the Chinese names for different locations of Arunachal Pradesh since 2017 to assert China’s claims over the area. The last set of names was released in April this year. China’s act of renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh has always been categorically rejected by New Delhi, which has consistently termed such moves as “vain and preposterous” while asserting that these will not alter the “undeniable” reality that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an integral part of India.