New Delhi has said that the solution to its recent row with Beijing over the renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh by Chinese authorities has to be found through bilateral talks.
“The solution has to be found between India and China…If anyone supports us, then it is a good thing…” India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at the weekly media briefing on Thursday.
He was reacting to remarks made by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who said on Tuesday that the US has “recognized that territory (Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India) for a long time.”
The Indian official said that New Delhi’s position on Arunachal Pradesh being an “integral and inalienable” part of India doesn’t depend on anyone’s support or opposition.
“Our position has been firm on that. There are no two ways to that… Support (from other countries) is good. But our position doesn't depend on that,” stated Bagchi.
Earlier this week, the MEA reacted strongly to Beijing’s decision to change the names of places in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing considers part of what is calls ’South Tibet’.
China Insists on ‘Sovereign Rights’ in Renaming Locations
Meanwhile, Beijing has doubled down on its decision to assign new names to 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh.
“Zangnan (Beijing’s name for Arunachal Pradesh) is part of China’s territory,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press conference on Tuesday, noting that the “standardization” of the names of some parts of the region was “within China’s sovereign rights”.
The list of names released by Beijing this week is the third since 2017. The first list in 2017 sought to “standardize” the names of six locations, while the second list was released in 2021.
Located on the eastern tip of the Sino-India border, Arunachal Pradesh is held by India — but claimed by Beijing.
The state’s Tawang sector witnessed clashes between Indian and Chinese troops last December, resulting in injuries on both sides. The situation has since been brought under control.
The recent diplomatic row over renaming of places comes as Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in a military standoff in the eastern Ladakh region, which lies on the western section of the border between the two countries.
Over 60,000 troops from both sides are engaged in a standoff at two locations, even as they have disengaged themselves from several other locations since the border row began in April 2020.
New Delhi has consistently maintained that overall bilateral ties between India and China will continue to remain “abnormal” as long as there are military deployments at the border.