China’s Name War in Indian Arunachal Pradesh Continues

China continues to “Sinicize” geographical names in an Indian state it claims as its own. Enough, says the Indian government.

By Massimo Introvigne

May 19, 2025

A View of Arunachal Pradesh. Credits.

In April 2024, “Bitter Winter” reported China’s bizarre attempt to claim sovereignty over a part of India, Arunachal Pradesh, by changing the names of mountains, rivers, and cities on the map.

Arunachal Pradesh is an Indian state established by the Simla Convention between China, India, and Tibet during 1913–14. Nevertheless, China, which signed but never ratified the Simla Convention, asserts that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to its territory, modifies its maps to reflect this, and urges the international community to follow suit.

Certainly, to assert control over Arunachal Pradesh, China must invade the region. This was precisely what occurred in 1962 during the Sino-Indian War, when the area was known as The North-East Frontier Agency. The People’s Liberation Army of China seized significant portions of Arunachal Pradesh, though it eventually withdrew. Nonetheless, China persists in its claim over Arunachal Pradesh, with a specific focus on the historically and religiously important city of Tawang, located close to the border with the PRC.

The city of Tawang with its great statue of Buddha.

Following unsuccessful military attempts to conquer Arunachal Pradesh, hampered by robust Indian resistance, China has turned to its covert strategy: altering geographical names. 

After thirty such changes in March 2024, this month, China continued with its renaming strategy by “Sinicizing” the names of fifteen mountains, five residential areas, four mountain passes, two rivers, and one lake. China calls the region “Zangnan” or “Southern Xizang,” just as it insists on calling Tibet “Xizang.”

The international community must ignore these attempts by the PRC to rewrite geography and history. 

In a press release last week, India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically. Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”

Source: bitterwinter.org