DH Deciphers | China, India and renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh

DH explains how China is using renaming as a strategy to prepare the ground to counter India's claim on Arunachal Pradesh

The Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chinese Government has since April 2017 “standardized” the names of as many as 32 places in Arunachal Pradesh of India in Mandarin and Tibetan languages. Anirban Bhaumik of DH explains how China is trying to prepare the ground to counter India’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh by renaming in its own languages the villages, towns, mountains and rivers in the state.

What is the India-China dispute over Arunachal Pradesh all about?

China claims nearly 90,000 sq kms of areas in Arunachal Pradesh of India and calls it Zangnan or south Tibet. New Delhi, however, rejects China’s claim and says that the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.

Tawang, the westernmost town of the frontier state, is at the core of the dispute. The town located at an altitude of 10000 ft has the Gaden Namgyal Lhatse monastery, which was built on the instruction from the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. Tawang is also the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama and hence a holy place for the Tibetans.

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Tawang had come under the control of the government of British India in 1914 after a deal had been signed among the UK, China (Republic of China before it turned into a People’s Republic of China) and Tibet in Shimla. The incumbent Dalai Lama – the 14th - entered India through Tawang following his escape from Lasa in 1959 after China occupied the Tibet Autonomous Region. Tawang and the neighbouring areas were among the scenes of the 1962 border conflict between the countries.

Why is the Chinese Government renaming the places in Arunachal Pradesh?

The Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chinese Government recently renamed 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Mandarin and Tibetan languages. It had earlier renamed six places in the state in Mandarin and Tibetan in April 2017 and 15 more places in December 2021. Beijing’s move is intended to buttress its claim on Arunachal Pradesh.

How does renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh help bolster China’s claim on the frontier state of India?

The Special Representatives of India and China had started talks to resolve the boundary dispute in 2003. They reached an agreement in 2005 on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of the Boundary Question. The Article VII of the agreement says that the two sides shall safeguard interests of the settled populations in the border areas while clinching a deal to resolve the boundary row. Beijing is now renaming the places in Arunachal Pradesh in Mandarin and Tibetan languages – in order to prepare the ground for it to claim vast areas in the easternmost state of India as China’s territory with a settled population.

The Indian and Chinese Special Representatives had the 22nd round of boundary negotiation in December 2019. The process remained stalled since then as the Chinese PLA’s unilateral bid to change the status quo along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and the Indian Army’s resistance and counter-deployment in April-May 2020 led to a military stand-off which could not be completely resolved so far. But if and when the negotiation restarts, China will obviously try to use its official records with Chinese and Tibetan names of places in Arunachal Pradesh to counter the claim of India.

What are the other moves by China to get an edge against India in boundary negotiations?

China has brought into force a new land border law on January 1, 2022. The law emphasizes on the role of the citizens, particularly people living in the border areas, and the civilian institutions in supporting the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police Force, which have been assigned the responsibility of “guarding land borders and resisting armed aggression”. Its emphasis on development of villages and towns in the border areas and role of civilians in protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity clearly indicates that China would expand settlements all along its disputed boundaries with India and Bhutan. There have been reports about China building villages in areas it illegally occupied in Bhutan as well as in Arunachal Pradesh in India. The new law apparently seeks to legitimize China’s use of the civilian settlement to buttress its territorial claims along its disputed boundaries with India and Bhutan. China is clearly preparing to cite its border villages and infrastructures to counter territorial claims of India.

How did India react to such moves by China?

New Delhi has been strongly dismissing Beijing’s repeated moves to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh. Even after the latest move by Beijing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi stated that China’s move to assign “invented names” to places in Arunachal Pradesh would not alter the fact that the state had always been and would always remain an integral part of India.

Beijing, however, says that it is its sovereign right to “standardize” the names of Zangnan, which is a part of the territory of China.

India had earlier stated that the new “Land Boundary Law” unilaterally enforced by China would not have any bearing on bilateral arrangements put in place to resolve territorial row between the two neighbouring nations as well as to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.