The Indian government on Wednesday firmly rejected China’s latest move to rename some locations in Arunachal Pradesh, calling it a futile and baseless attempt to assert territorial claims.
India has rejected China’s attempts to rename some places in Arunachal Pradesh, saying such “preposterous” attempts will not alter the “undeniable” reality that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an integral part of India.
In a strongly worded statement, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated* that Arunachal Pradesh remains an integral and inalienable part of India, dismissing Beijing’s actions as “vain and preposterous.
“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically,” the MEA said.
The ministry further stressed that “creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India”.
The MEA reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.
Indian Army’s ‘Mountain Division’ The Best In World:
Indian Army has the world’s most capable mountain division trained for high-altitude warfare, earlier a Chinese military expert has acknowledged adding that mountaineering is an “essential skill” for each Indian soldier deployed in the mountains.
The appreciation comes in the backdrop of India-China border clashes along the line of actual control (LAC) in the rugged Ladakh region in Galwan (2020).
Huang’s article is a rare recognization of Indian Army’s prowess published by a Chinese media which generally boasts about its own capabilities.
“At present, the world’s largest and experienced country with plateau and mountain troops is neither the US, Russia nor any European power house, but India”, wrote Huang Guozhi, senior editor of Bejing’s Modern Weaponry.
This magazine, a respected defence journal , is affiliated to the state owned China North Industries Group Corporation Limited(NORINCO) the main supplier of military hardware for the PLA.
Huang Guozhi added “India has the world’s largest and most experienced troops trained for high altitude battle and mountain warfare.
The India-China border is commonly referred to as the McMahon Line in the eastern sector, while the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is used for the western and central sectors. The McMahon Line is named after Sir Henry McMahon, who was the chief British negotiator at the 1914 Simla Convention. The LAC is the current operational border between the two countries.
(Edited by Pratyusha Mukherjee)
(Ms. Pratyusha Mukherjee, an Independent Sr. Broadcast Journalist working for British media with 20 years of experience in covering the east and northeast, with specialisation in Defence and Sports.She is associated with us as Editorial head of Defence and Sports. In her illustrated career she has covered many major events and achieved International and Indian media awards for Journalism).
