India rejects China assigning ‘fictitious’ names for Indian territory

New Delhi: India on Sunday categorically rejected China’s efforts to assign “fictitious names” to Indian territory, asserting that such attempts to create “baseless

narratives” cannot alter “undeniable reality” and could derail efforts to normalise bilateral ties.

New Delhi’s sharp reaction came against the backdrop of Beijing establishing a third new administrative county in Aksai Chin, a region India maintains is its sovereign territory.

“India categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“Such attempts by China at introducing false claims and manufacturing baseless narratives cannot alter the undeniable reality that these places and territories, including Arunachal Pradesh, were, are, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” he said.

Jaiswal said these actions by the Chinese side “detract from ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise India-China bilateral ties.”

“China should refrain from actions which inject negativity into relations and undermine efforts to create a better understanding,” he said.

Though Jaiswal, while responding to a media query, did not specify the name of the territories, it is learnt that New Delhi’s comments were in reaction to Beijing’s formation of the new county.

On March 26, China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region announced the creation of Cenling county, a strategic region located near the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Afghanistan. It is also reportedly close to the western sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.

Cenling, located near the Karakoram mountain range, is the third new county

established by China in Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim Uyghur region.

India last year lodged a protest with China over the creation of Hean and Hekang counties, stating

that parts of their jurisdiction fall within its Union territory of Ladakh.

The relations between the two countries witnessed a major downturn following the 2020 eastern Ladakh border row. In the last one-and-a-half years, the two sides have initiated a series of measures to rebuild relations.

India had previously objected to China renaming certain places in Arunachal Pradesh, including in May last year as well as in April 2024.