SURAT, 1 Apr: Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will remain an Indian state in the future, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted on Monday, days after China released 30 new names of various places in the border state.
Addressing a press conference, Jaishankar said that nothing will be gained by changing the names.
“If I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was an Indian state, is an Indian state and will remain so in the future. Nothing will be gained by changing names,” said the external affairs minister, who is on a two-day visit to Gujarat.
He was responding to a question on Beijing’s latest move to re-emphasise its claim over the Indian state.
The Chinese ministry of civil affairs released the fourth list of standardised geographical names in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal which Beijing claims as part of south Tibet, state-run Global Times reported on Sunday.
The official website of the ministry posted 30 additional names for the region. (PTI)
