Islamabad, Dec 7: Pakistan has again backed China’s claim over Arunachal Pradesh. Last Friday, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters that Pakistan fully supports China on all matters related to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He said this while responding to questions about China’s recent statement on Arunachal Pradesh. On November 25, China declared Arunachal Pradesh as its territory. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning had said Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh, is part of China. Mao made the remark while rejecting allegations that Chinese officials mistreated Pem Wangjom Thangdok from Arunachal Pradesh at Shanghai airport.

India pushed back strongly. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India, adding that China’s repeated claims do not change the truth.

China has never accepted Arunachal Pradesh as an Indian state and refers to it as part of “southern Tibet”. It accuses India of renaming Tibetan land as Arunachal Pradesh and often issues Chinese names for places in the region.

In 2015, Zhang Yongpan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that these areas have been under Chinese control for centuries and that renaming them is justified. According to him, both central and local authorities had named these regions in the past, and ethnic groups such as Tibetans, Lhoba and Monba also used their own names. Zhang argued that only China has the authority to rename these places.

Recently, China also declared the passport of a woman born in Arunachal Pradesh invalid. Officials said she must apply for a Chinese passport, since the state is part of China. The woman, Pem Wangjom Thangdok, who lives in the UK, was travelling from London to Japan on November 21 and had a three-hour transit at Shanghai Pudong Airport.

She later alleged that Chinese immigration officers detained and mistreated her for hours, mocked her, and dismissed her Indian passport as invalid. She wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials, calling it an insult to India’s sovereignty and the people of Arunachal Pradesh. India lodged a strong protest with China.

Arunachal Pradesh holds strategic significance because it is the largest state in India’s northeast and borders Tibet, Bhutan and Myanmar. Tawang district, which lies near Tibet and Bhutan, is especially sensitive for China.

In May this year, China renamed 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh, including mountains, towns, mountain passes, rivers and a lake. Over the past eight years, China has renamed more than 90 locations in the region. India has dismissed these moves as pointless.

China uses Chinese, Tibetan and Pinyin names to reinforce its claim. During the G20 Summit in 2023, when India held a meeting in Arunachal Pradesh, China again released new place names. It had done the same in 2017 during the Dalai Lama’s visit to the state.

In 2024, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs renamed 30 more places. According to the South China Morning Post, these included residential areas, mountains, rivers, a pond and a mountain pass. Earlier renaming rounds were carried out in 2023, 2021 and 2017.

People’s News Monitoring Service