New Delhi:
Any move by China to give fake names to locations in Indian territory will harm the ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise bilateral ties, India said today in a strong response to reports that China has been assigning fictitious names to some such areas.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in a statement said India “categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India.”
“Such attempts by China at introducing false claims and manufacturing baseless narratives cannot alter the undeniable reality that these places and territories, including Arunachal Pradesh, were, are, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” Jaiswal said.
The MEA cautioned that such actions by China “detract from ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise India-China bilateral ties.”
“China should refrain from actions which inject negativity into relations and undermine efforts to create better understanding,” Jaiswal said.
Following the Galwan faceoff in May 2020, India and China have been in talks to defuse tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). However, analysts and top officials have often pointed at China’s long-term strategy using border infrastructure, dual-use settlements and renaming of places to influence narratives across the LAC.
India has always rejected China’s claims over Arunachal Pradesh, amid recent incidents linked to visa and travel of people from the northeast state. The state is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India, it has said.
Back in May 2025 too, the MEA said it noticed that China had persisted with its “vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.”
“Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically. Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” Jaiswal said in May 2025.
