India on Tuesday outrightly rejected China’s renaming of certain places in Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that the state is an integral and inalienable part of India.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said attempts to assign “invented names” will 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,” Bagchi 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,” he said.

His comments came in response to media queries regarding the renaming of certain places in Arunachal Pradesh by China.

China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs on Sunday released standardised names of 11 places for Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet”.

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