China has issued new names for 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh as part of its efforts to reemphasise its sovereignty over the state. This is the third time that China has “renamed” the region of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet”.

China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs released a set of place names in Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin characters yesterday, allegedly following the regulations on place names issued by China’s cabinet, the State Council.

The list released by China includes five mountain peaks, two land areas, two residential areas and two rivers.

The first two such lists were published in 2018 and 2021. China released a list of six names in 2017, while in 2021, it “renamed” 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh.

New Delhi has twice strongly rejected China’s claims, claiming that China “has always been” and will “always be” an inalienable part of India.

“This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in December 2021.

“Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning fictional names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not change that fact,” he said.

According to The Global Times, China’s ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily group of publications in China that Chinese authorities have described as “standardising geographical names”.

China released the first names in 2017, days after the Dalai Lama visited Arunachal Pradesh. China has sharply criticised the visit of a Tibetan spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet through Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and sought asylum in India in 1959 after China took military control of the Himalayas in 1950.

In December, Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the state’s Tawang district during a months-long border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh then accused China of trying to “unilaterally” change the status quo along the LAC.