Amid Territorial Dispute With India, China Renames 30 More Places in Arunachal Pradesh: Reports

New Delhi: To assert its claim in a bitter territorial dispute, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs on Saturday revealed that it had renamed 30 more places along the border with India, the South China Morning Post reported.

As per the ministry, the latest set of "standardised" names published applies to areas within Arunachal Pradesh also referred to as Zangnan by China, which claims to be part of the Tibetan autonomous region.

The renaming includes 11 residential areas, 12  mountains, 4 rivers, 1 lake, 1 mountain pass and 1 piece of land, all given in Chinese characters and Tibetan and pinyin, the Roman alphabet version of Mandarin Chinese.

The new list includes more parts of the disputed areas than the previous three renaming over there past 7 years.

"In accordance with the relevant provisions of the State Council [China’s cabinet] on the management of geographical names, we in conjunction with the relevant departments have standardised some of the geographical names in Zangnan of China," SCMP reported, quoting the Civil Affairs Ministry.

This comes after a rebuttal by the Ministry of External Affairs who refuted China's claims on Arunachal Pradesh, calling it ‘baseless.’ Reiterating India's stance, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an ‘integral part of India,’ a fact that is immutable despite China's persistent assertions.