India on Tuesday rejected attempts by China to claim some parts of Indian controlled territories, highlighting yet another flash-point between the neighbors.
(Bloomberg) — India on Tuesday rejected attempts by China to claim some parts of Indian controlled territories, highlighting yet another flash-point between the neighbors.
“Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be part an integral and inalienable part of India,” said a statement of the Ministry of External Affairs.
On Sunday, Beijing issued maps and names of 11 places as part of its southern Tibetan region of Zangan that borders the eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh – an area controlled by India.
This is the third such list issued by China’s Civil Affairs Ministry claiming places inside Indian controlled territory. The first list of six places was released in 2017, and the second list of 15 places inside Indian controlled territory was issued in 2021.
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The region had witnessed majority of the fighting in the 1962 India- China war. One third of the disputed 3,488 kilometer (2,167 miles) boundary runs along the India controlled Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is also claimed by of Beijing.
Since 2020, India and China are locked in one of worst border conflicts in four decades. Soldiers on both sides were killed in combat and both sides have strengthened border defenses moving troops, artillery guns and fighter jets close to the border. As many as 17 rounds of talks between military commanders and diplomats have had incremental progress.
“South Tibetan region is China’s territory,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, adding that the Chinese government had standardized treatment of the names of some places in China’s South Tibet region. “This is within the sovereign affairs of China,” Ning said.
–With assistance from Colum Murphy.
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