'Diplomatic Pressure' or 'Protection of National Security': Why is China
Giving Chinese Names to Indian Territory?
China has changed the names of 11 regions
of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh to Chinese names, on which India has
registered its protest.
China claims ownership of 90,000 square
kilometers of land in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, but India denies the
claim, alleging that in fact, China has illegally occupied 38,000 square
kilometers of Aksai Chin in the west of the state. .
It should be remembered that this is the
third time that China has changed the names of Indian state territories and
given them Chinese names.
China's Ministry of Civil Affairs has
released the new names of 11 districts of Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese, Tibetan, and
Pen-Yen characters. China says the move is under the China National Council's
Regulations on Geographical Names.
According to the news agency ANI,
these areas include the names of two land regions, two populated areas, five
mountain peaks, and two rivers of Arunachal Pradesh. It also has an area that is
located near Darulhukot Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs
changed the names of six regions of the same Indian state in 2017, while in
2021, China released a list of changed names of 15 regions.
In the notification issued by the Chinese
Ministry last Sunday regarding the Chinese names of 11 regions, it is said that
'under the relevant regulations of the cabinet on the management of names of
geographical regions, the names of certain regions of South Tibet (Arunachal
Pradesh) have been replaced. These names have been officially announced.
Arunachal Pradesh will remain an integral part: of
India
Meanwhile, India has rejected this attempt by China to change its name. In a statement issued by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arndam Bagchi on Tuesday evening, it is said that "We have seen the report regarding this." This is not the first time that China has made such an attempt. We categorically reject it.
He further said that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be an integral part of India. Giving new names to our region will not change this fact. China claims 90,000 square kilometers of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory. He shows Arunachal Pradesh as his region in his national map.
In China, the Arunachal region is given the
name 'Zingnan' in Chinese and is depicted as a region of southern Tibet. China
does not recognize the 'McMahon Line' which separates Arunachal Pradesh from
China.
The McMahon Line was established in 1914 by
Britain, China and Tibet at the Simla Convention. It was named after the
British representative Henry McMahon. After the establishment of the People's
Republic of China and the establishment of a communist government in 1949, the
Chinese representative did not ratify the Simla Convention, saying that Tibet
did not have the sovereign right to enter into any international agreement.
Suhasani Haider, foreign affairs analyst of
The Hindu daily, quoted some security sources and wrote that "This is an
attempt to strengthen China's territorial claims and to create or change
evidence to support its claim." In order to strengthen the Chinese
position in case of any dispute of territorial autonomy in an international
court.
Some commentators also say that changing the name from time to time will not affect the ground realities. He says that apart from Arunachal, China has also changed its name to the South China Sea and East China Sea. Indian analyst Amit Barwa says that this is an attempt by China to strengthen its territorial claim.
Speaking to BBC, Amit Barwa said that this
is diplomatic pressure from China. This process of changing the name is a
message from China to India that it is serious about its territorial claim.
Amit Barwa says that under the leadership
of the current Chinese President Xi Jinping, China's attitude has hardened,
especially on the issues of changing the special status of Kashmir by
abrogating Article 370 and issuing new maps by India. The aggression in China's
behavior is due to all these reasons.
Amit Barwa further says that despite the
tension between the two countries, talks have been going on at the military and
diplomatic levels.
Suhasani Haider, foreign affairs analyst of
The Hindu daily, quoted some security sources and wrote that "This is an
attempt to strengthen China's territorial claims and to create or change
evidence to support its claim." In order to strengthen the Chinese
position in case of any dispute of territorial autonomy in an international
court.
Some commentators also say that changing
the name from time to time will not affect the ground realities. He says that
apart from Arunachal, China has also changed its name to South China Sea and East
China Sea.
