China reasserts India border claims with fresh list of ‘standard’ place names

Name: After India and Pakistan trade blows over Kashmir, will their ceasefire hold?
Uploaded: 2025-05-14T04:10:13.000Z
Description: After India and Pakistan trade blows over Kashmir, will their ceasefire hold?

More than a dozen mountains are among the new spots assigned Chinese names in Arunachal Pradesh, known in China as Zangnan

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An area near the Indo-Chinese border is known as Arunachal Pradesh in India and South Tibet in China. Photo: AFP

Xinlu Liangin Beijing

Published: 12:10pm, 14 May 2025Updated: 7:13pm, 14 May 2025

China has reasserted its territorial claims near its contested border with India by releasing “standard” names for dozens of places in the region – most of them in Indian-controlled territory.

Despite recent efforts to improve diplomatic ties with its Southeast Asian neighbour, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs published its latest names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls Zangnan and says is part of the Tibetan autonomous region.

The renaming of 27 places covered an array of geographical features: 15 mountains, five residential areas, four mountain passes, two rivers and one lake.

After India and Pakistan trade blows over Kashmir, will their ceasefire hold?

Each location was assigned a name in Chinese characters, Tibetan, and pinyin – the romanised spelling of Mandarin Chinese – and accompanied by detailed latitude and longitude coordinates, and a high-resolution map.

“In accordance with the relevant provisions of the State Council on the management of geographical names, we in conjunction with the relevant departments have standardised some of the geographical names in Zangnan of China,” the ministry said.

On Wednesday, India dismissed China’s move as “vain and preposterous”.

“Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.

Beijing’s move comes despite efforts in the past year to improve relations between the two countries after a long period of tension.