India names 27 locations in Arunachal to counter China’s territorial claims

India on Friday officially assigned standard names to 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in a move seen as a direct response to China’s repeated attempts to rename locations in the border state.

The Union home ministry said the names were finalised in consultation with the Arunachal Pradesh government and incorporated into the official maps of the Survey of India (SoI) to reinforce India’s sovereign and legal jurisdiction over the region.

Among the locations is Longju, a border village under Chinese control since 1959 but within India’s claim line. Officials said formally identifying such places on official maps strengthens India’s territorial claims and counters China’s efforts to assign what New Delhi calls “fictitious names” to Indian territory.

The newly recognised locations include 21 land areas, four mountain passes, one lake and one memorial. The passes are Dzo La, Riza La, Pukur La and Thag La, while the list also features Sambho Sarovar lake and the Sher-e-Thapa Memorial.

According to the home ministry, incorporating these names into Survey of India maps will improve public awareness, administrative clarity and the use of these locations in land records, census data, infrastructure planning and border development projects.

Officials said the exercise is intended to remove ambiguities in official maps that China has sought to exploit by issuing its own names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as “South Tibet”.

China has repeatedly announced Chinese names for locations in Arunachal Pradesh in recent years, including a fresh list of 23 places earlier this year. India has consistently rejected these moves, maintaining that renaming places cannot alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of India.

The External Affairs Ministry has accused Beijing of attempting to create “baseless narratives” and urged China to refrain from actions that undermine efforts to improve bilateral ties.

The latest move comes as India and China continue talks to normalise relations following the prolonged military standoff along the LAC that began in 2020, while both sides work towards resolving their long-running boundary dispute.