New Delhi: Reacting strongly to China's actions of assigning names to places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said India totally rejected these kinds of activities and asserted that Beijing is feeling nervous and uncomfortable due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's developmental works in border areas and is engaging in unethical conduct.
On March 30, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs published the country’s latest set of “standardised” names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls Zangnan, and says is part of the Tibetan autonomous region. The renaming covered 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass and a piece of land, all given in Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin, the Roman alphabet version of Mandarin Chinese.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Rijiju said, "China has given some kind of names to some places in Arunachal Pradesh...We are very upset and totally reject these kinds of activities by the Chinese government. Our government and the External Affairs Ministry has responded appropriately."
'Congress did not develop border areas, furthering Chinese propaganda'
Lashing out at the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the opposition party had followed a policy of not developing the border areas when it was in power, and credited PM Modi for reversing the "negative border policy" of the Congress. He also accused the Congress of furthering Chinese propaganda.
"Earlier these border areas were left underdeveloped during Congress' time... Chinese were very happy with the Congress Govt because Congress had the policy not to develop the border areas. PM Modi has reversed the negative border policy of the Congress party... China is feeling uncomfortable... That is why they are resorting to this unethical conduct...This is not 1962 India... If we are disturbed then we will respond...Nobody can change our status," he said.
On Monday, Rijiju asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an alienable part of India and the "baseless claims" made by China will not change the ground reality. "I strongly condemn China's illegally 'standardised' geographical names given to 30 places inside Arunachal Pradesh. China has been making all baseless claims but that's not going to change the ground reality and the 'historical facts'," he said.
India rejects China's 'senseless' claims
India on Tuesday reacted sharply and asserted that "assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh". In a statement released by the Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, New Delhi dubbed China's claims "senseless" and affirmed that the Arunachal Pradesh "is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India."
"China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts. Assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India," MEA said in a statement.
The recent statements by China to reassert its claims over the state started with Beijing lodging a diplomatic protest with India over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, where he dedicated to the nation the Sela Tunnel built at an altitude of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on March 23 dismissed China's repeated claims on Arunachal Pradesh as "ludicrous" and that the frontier state was a "natural part of India". "This is not a new issue. I mean, China has laid claim, it has expanded its claim. The claims are ludicrous to begin with and remain ludicrous today," he said in response to a question on the Arunachal issue after delivering a lecture at the prestigious Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS).
(with ANI inputs)
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