India rejects China's 'preposterous' attempts to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh

The Indian government on Wednesday firmly rejected China's latest move to rename some locations in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it a futile and baseless attempt to assert territorial claims.

In a strongly worded statement, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh remains an integral and inalienable part of India, dismissing Beijing’s actions as “vain and preposterous.”

“We have noticed that China has 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,” the MEA said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our response to media queries on renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh by China (May 14, 2025)<br><br>🔗 <a href="https://t.co/5XtzF8ImUJ">https://t.co/5XtzF8ImUJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/1edyuqRpog">pic.twitter.com/1edyuqRpog</a></p>&mdash; Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEAIndia/status/1922498298658578837?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The ministry further stressed that “creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality” of India’s sovereignty over the northeastern state, which has long been a flashpoint in India-China relations.

The MEA reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.