On Friday, 27 locations and features in Arunachal Pradesh were officially listed by their standard names on the official Indian map, despite China’s repeated renaming of several of the state’s locations. “Identifying them formally on the Survey of India map of Arunachal Pradesh is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large,” a government statement stated.
New Delhi has consistently denounced China’s renaming of locations in Arunachal Pradesh, calling such actions “vain and preposterous” and claiming that they will not change the “undeniable” fact that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an essential part of India.
Long Ju, which is situated along the Line of Actual Control and was one of the first flashpoints between China and India when Chinese soldiers invaded the region in 1959, is one of the 27 locations officially designated on the official map of India.
According to the statement, the map also shows Maja, a community in the Upper Subansiri district that is close to Long Ju.
The list also contains Dzo La, Riza La, Pukur La, and Bisa village, a strategically significant high-altitude mountain pass in the area.
The official map also legally identifies Thag La, one of the most strategically significant high-altitude passes, where one of the first confrontations between Chinese and Indian forces occurred in 1962.
As the entry point to the eastern border region, Jairampur, a crucial logistics hub in Changlang district, facilitates security forces’ movements into eastern Arunachal and the Myanmar border.
The list also includes the high-altitude lake Sambho Sarovar, the villages of Sagar, Padma, Jyotinagar, and Baisakhi, Bara Kundun and Chhota Kundun in Eastern Arunachal Pradesh, Dhan Bari, Pritnagar, Teritnagar, Ramnagar, and Jaswant Garh, which has a memorial to the Indian martyr Jaswant Singh Rawat on Tawang Road.
There is also a Sher-e-Thapa Memorial honoring Trilok Singh Thapa, a 1962 war hero, Chhota and Bara Ropuk, Shivaji Nagar, Sunpura, Kamlang Nagar, which is close to the Kamlang sanctuary and Buddhamandir.
Chinese attempts to give Indian land “fictitious names” have been rejected by New Delhi, which claims that such attempts to fabricate “baseless narratives” cannot change “undeniable reality” and could sabotage attempts to normalize bilateral relations.
The first list of standardized names for six locations in Zangnan was published by the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry in 2017. A second list of 15 locations was released in 2021, and a third list of names for 11 locations was released in 2023.
Zangnan is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.
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