China announces 'standardised' names for 6 places in Arunachal

Beijing (China): Upping the ante, China has for the first time announced “standardised” official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, days after it lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama’s visit to the frontier state. The state media here said the move was aimed at reaffirming China’s claim over the state. China claims the state as ‘South Tibet’.

“China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on April 14 that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of six places in ‘South Tibet’, which India calls ‘Arunachal Pradesh’, in accordance with the regulations of the central government,” state-run Global Times reported today. The official names of the six places using the Roman alphabet are Wo’gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidêngarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bümo La and Namkapub Ri.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC). While China claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covers Aksai Chin area which was occupied by China during the 1962 war. The two sides have so far held 19 rounds of talks with Special Representatives to resolve the boundary dispute.

China’s move comes just days after the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which was seventh since he fled from Tibet through Tawang and sought refuge in India. During the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader’s Arunachal Pradesh visit, China had warned India that it will take “necessary measures” to defend its territorial sovereignty and interests. Commenting on the standardisation of the names of six places, Chinese experts said that it was a move to “reaffirm the country’s territorial sovereignty to the disputed region”, according to the daily.

“The standardisation came amid China’s growing understanding and recognition of the geography in South Tibet. Naming the places is a step to reaffirm China’s territorial sovereignty to South Tibet,” Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at Beijing’s Minzu University of China, was quoted as saying. Xiong said that the legalisation of the regions’ names is a part of the rule of law.

“These names have existed since ancient times, but had never been standardised before. Therefore, announcing the names is like a remediation,” Guo Kefan, a research fellow at the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, said. Standardising the names from the angles of culture and geography could serve as a reference or leverage when China and India negotiate border issues in future, Guo said.

“The South Tibet region is located alongside China’s southwestern border and India’s north-eastern border where Sino-Indian border disputes are cantered,” the report said. It claimed that India “abruptly announced that it was officially designating the region as ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ but the Chinese government has neither recognised India’s occupation of the region, nor the legitimacy of the province”.

During the Dalai Lama Arunachal Pradesh visit, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who accompanied the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asserted that that Arunachal Pradesh is “an inseparable part of India”. China had lodged a diplomatic protest with India over the visit and warned that it would have a negative impact on the efforts to resolve the border dispute.

After the nine-day visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had said that India should not use the Tibetan spiritual leader to undermine China’s interests. 

“We urge the Indian side to observe its commitment on Tibet related issues and implement our consensus namely they should not use Dalai Lama to undermine the interests of China,” Lu had said.

“Only in this way can we create a good atmosphere to the settlement of the boundary question,” he had said.

This is not the first time that the Dalai Lama has visited “South Tibet” or referred to the region as Indian territory, which means he is committed to separating the nation, Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, told Global Times.