A familiar Chinese (re)naming ritual

But assigning new names to places in Arunachal during an India-Pak standoff may signify a new message.

China has opened another round of provocation with the renaming of locations in Arunachal Pradesh – for the third successive year. It kicked off the latest exercise when tensions were running high between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor. This is China’s way of asserting its claim over the Indian state which it calls Zangnan. India has rejected China’s move and called it “vain and preposterous” – it has reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh will remain “an integral and inalienable” part of India. In the past, India has denounced in unequivocal terms Beijing’s claims regarding the matter. Last year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asked: “If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine?”

The renaming of places has no practical impact. Beijing may derive some satisfaction from a symbolic act of asserting its assumed ownership of these places. It has chosen to ignore India’s objections and claimed that the exercise was part of the “standardisation” of geographical names. However, standardisation should not be done in geographies outside of one’s territory. China has tried to assert its claim in other ways as well. Beijing protests whenever an Indian leader of stature visits Arunachal Pradesh.

It has also objected to people representing the state, such as sportspersons, attending international events because it sees them as citizens. India has always rejected these claims. It may not be an accident that China decided to revive the name-changing exercise when India was in the middle of a conflict with Pakistan which is China’s trusted ally. Pakistan had China’s backing during its standoff with India and it used China-supplied arms in the conflict. So the latest assertion in Arunachal may have been intended to convey a message.

China has also, recently, announced a decision to establish two new counties in its Hotan Prefecture under the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region. Parts of the jurisdiction of these counties fall in the Union Territory of Ladakh, in the Aksai Chin area. The bilateral process of talks between the special representatives of both countries on outstanding territorial disputes and other issues is on after it was suspended for some years. The objective of such talks is also to ensure that the two countries desist from arbitrary actions that would adversely affect bilateral relations. But China keeps taking these aggressive positions. Its other neighbours have also felt the impact of its expansionist policies, frequently stated in the form of provocative acts.