'Nothing will change for us if they don't': India on US support over Arunachal row

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in response to a question on US support to India on the Arunachal Pradesh issue said, "India and China will have to find a solution to this among themselves. If someone supports us, it is a good thing. Nothing will change for us if they don't support us".

New Delhi:The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that 'nothing will change' even if the US does not support India's stand on China. In a weekly media briefing on Thursday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in response to a question on US support to India on the Arunachal Pradesh issue said, "China has tried to change the names of some places in Arunachal Pradesh. India and China will have to find a solution to this among themselves. If someone supports us, it is a good thing. Nothing will change for us if they don't support us".

This comes after China tried renaming 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it referred to as Zangnan- the Southern part of Tibet. The United States has condemned China's attempt to rename places. The United States strongly opposed China’s attempts to advance a claim over Indian territory, the White House said on Tuesday.

Bagchi reiterated that this is not the first time that China is making such attempts, and that India has criticized such attempts. "Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of India. China giving its inventive names will not change the ground reality. I would like to re-emphasize that,” Bagchi said.

He further said, “The restoration of normalcy in our relationship will require restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas which has been disturbed since April 2020. As the External Affairs minister said, the presence of a large number of troops there in contravention of agreements is an abnormality.”

“We have been holding discussions on the diplomatic and military tracks. But till the situation in the border areas sees a return to peace and tranquility, we cannot foresee normalcy in the overall relationship,” Bagchi added. The new names by China were released last week on Sunday and are in Chinese, Tibetan, and pinyin characters, by regulations on geographical names issued by State Council, China’s cabinet.

In a statement, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said, "According to the relevant provisions of the state council on the management of the geographical names, our ministry together with relevant departments, has standardized some geographical names in Southern Tibet". China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs gave precise coordinates, including two land areas, two residential areas, five mountains, peaks, and two rivers. It also listed the category of places’ names and their subordinate administrative districts.