Guwahati: China on August 10 rejected India’s decision to assign standard names to 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh on its official map, describing the move as “illegal, null and void”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing does not recognise Arunachal Pradesh and once again asserted China’s territorial claim over the northeastern state.
Guo said India’s attempt to replace names that China has long used with what it calls “standard names” was “illegal, null and void”, according to a statement published on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s official website.
He further claimed that India’s move would not change what Beijing calls the “Zangnan region”, which China claims as part of its territory. Beijing refers to Tibet as “Xizang” and Arunachal Pradesh as “Zangnan”.
China’s reaction came shortly after India officially assigned standard Indian names to 27 locations and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh and included them on its official map.
Beijing has been issuing Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh since 2017. Its Ministry of Civil Affairs has released several such lists, which India has rejected as attempts to reinforce China’s territorial claims over the state. The latest list was issued in April 2026.
India has consistently dismissed China’s renaming efforts, maintaining that changing the names of places cannot alter the ground situation or Arunachal Pradesh’s status as an integral part of the country.
New Delhi has repeatedly stated that Arunachal Pradesh “was, is, and will” remain an integral part of India.