US recognises Arunachal Pradesh as India's integral part: White House

The United States has recognised Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities, the White House said.

"The United States has recognised that territory (Arunachal Pradesh) for a long time (as an integral part of India). And we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday, reported PTI.

"And so, again, this is something that we have long stood by," Jean-Pierre added.

The US reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 11 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.

China's Civil Affairs Ministry released a third set of names for 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese, Tibetan, and pinyin characters. These places include five mountain peaks, two land areas, two residential areas, and two rivers.

Meanwhile, India on Tuesday outrightly rejected China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the state is an integral part of India and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality.

"We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright. Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

This is not the first time that the Chinese government has released such a list. The first batch of the standardised names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh was released in 2017 and the second batch of 15 places was issued in 2021.

China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh came in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff that began in May 2020.

(With PTI inputs)

Also Read: Integral part of India: MEA on China assigning names to places in Arunachal Pradesh

Also Read: China releases names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, calls it ‘southern part of Tibet’