China ups the ante against India, renames 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh

Source : Deccan Herald

Arunachal Pradesh map

China has renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh to buttress its claim on the Northeastern state of India, even as soldiers of the two nations remained engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball stand-off all along the disputed boundary in eastern Ladakh over the past 20 months.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chinese Government announced on Wednesday that it had “standardised” in Mandarin Chinese characters as well as in Tibetan and Roman alphabets the names of the 15 places in Zangnan or the southern part of Xizang (Tibet Autonomous Region), The Global Times, a state-affiliated media outlet of the communist country, reported.

Beijing claims areas worth 90,000 sq km in Arunachal Pradesh of India as part of the territory of China and calls it Zangnan or south Tibet. New Delhi, however, rejects Beijing’s claim and says that the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India.