United States “strongly oppose” China’s attempts to advance a claim over Indian territory, Arunachal Pradesh by renaming localities, the White House said on Tuesday.

“This is another attempt by the Chinese claim on us, Indian territory. So the United States, as you know, has recognized that territory for a long time and we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance a territory claim by renaming localities. And so, again, this is something that we have long stood by a few things,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. This statement came after China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs standardised the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it referred to as “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet.”

China has come up with the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin according to the rules on geographical names issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, Global Times reported.

The Ministry announced the names of 11 places on Sunday and also gave precise coordinates, including two residential areas, five mountain peaks, two rivers and two other areas. China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs also listed the category of places’ names and their subordinate administrative districts, as per the news report.

Reacting to this act, the Ministry of External Affairs said that India has outrightly rejected China’s attempt to rename places of Arunachal Pradesh.

In response to media queries regarding China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, Arindam Bagchi in a statement said, “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright.”

He further said, “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.”

Meanwhile, in the press conference, talking about the India-US relationship and Ambassador Eric Garcetti, Pierre said, “So, this is something that I’ve said from here that the president has said. When we look at the relationship with India, it’s one of the most consequential relationships that the United States has in the world that still stands.”
“Ambassador Garcetti will be leading an ambitious effort to deepen our cooperation with India in critical and emerging technologies, expand our defence cooperation, and strengthen our economic and people-to-people ties. Again, one of the most consequential relationships that we have in the United States, and in the world.That the United States have in the world. So it’s an important relationship that the president sees,” she added.