China is back to playing its old tricks. Its latest move to rename parts of Arunachal Pradesh is a crude attempt to reiterate its claim on the state, which has been and will continue to remain an integral part of India. This provocative action falls into a familiar pattern that Beijing has adopted to demonstrate its territorial hegemony in the region and beyond.
Chief Minister Pema Khandu along with the national leadership has sharply responded to this provocation and dismissed it.
It must be pointed out that rechristening some places in the state will not make any difference to its status nor will it alter the ground reality.
Beijing has now released a list of 30 ‘standardised’ names of places in Arunachal Pradesh. This is the fourth such list issued by the Chinese ministry of civil affairs in the past seven years.
Beijing claims that Zangnan – the Chinese name for Arunachal – is part of south Tibet. India has repeatedly rejected the assertions, with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar saying that these were ludicrous to begin with and remain ludicrous today.
Such actions by China make it imperative for India to expeditiously ramp up infrastructure in Arunachal. The immediate provocation in the latest case appears to be the opening of the Sela tunnel in the state by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This strategically important tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity to Arunachal’s Tawang and is expected to facilitate faster movement of troops in the frontier region.
Lodging a diplomatic protest, Beijing had said that India’s move would ‘only complicate’ the boundary issue. Ironically, the latest provocation comes on the heels of the 29th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs.