A Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson on Thursday took a jibe at China’s renaming of six places in Arunachal Pradesh by saying the announcement does not “make an illegal occupation legal”. Gopal Baglay said Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.
On Wednesday, China’s state-run Global Times reported that Beijing’s Ministry of Civil Affairs had announced “standardised” official names for six places in the North Eastern state. China claimed the frontier state “which India calls Arunachal Pradesh” as South Tibet.
The standardised names have been announced in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet. In the Roman alphabet, these places have been called: Wo’gyainling, Mila Ri, Qoidêngarbo Ri, Mainquka, Bümo La and Namkapub Ri. The renaming followed Beijing’s opposition to India’s allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh.
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