'US recognises Arunachal Pradesh as India's integral part'

Arunachal Pradesh is recognised as an integral part of India, the US said while strongly opposing any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities.

Hyderabad:The United States of America has recognised Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities, the White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She was responding to a question on how the US views the renaming of 11 more locations in India's Arunachal Pradesh by China which claims it as its southern part of Tibet.

"The United States has recognised that territory (Arunachal Pradesh) for a long time (as an integral part of India). And we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities," the Press Secretary said on Tuesday. And so, again, this is something that we have long stood by, Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs Sunday released the official names of the 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh. On Tuesday, India's Ministry of External Affairs rejected the renaming of the said places in Arunachal Pradesh. The ministry asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and assigning invented names does not alter this reality.

We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality, Bagchi said.

The Sunday exercise by China was the third such move of claiming to standardise geographical names for India's Arunachal Pradesh. First, China issued the standardised names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh back in 2017. The second set of 15 places came in 2021.

China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh began amidst the border skirmishes which reached its high point during the 2020 Galwan Clash. As a standoff ensued, India stepped up its overall military preparedness along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Arunachal Pradesh sector as well.

Border tension continues to simmer between India and China in eastern Ladakh along the LAC, though both sides have completed disengagement of troops from several in pursuance of extensive diplomatic and military talks. India's position is that it cannot maintain normal ties with China unless there is peace in the border areas.