“Arunachal Pradesh Was, Is & Will Always Be A State Of India”: S. Jaishankar

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday reacted to China’s move of naming 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing considers part of Southern Tibet.

Addressing a press conference in Gujarat, Jaishankar said, “If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine? Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be a state of India. Changing names does not have an effect.” He added that the Indian army is deployed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Recently, China again came up with its claim over the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Terming the Indian State as “Zangan—an inherent part of China’s territory,” the Chinese Defence Ministry said that Beijing “never acknowledges and firmly opposes” the “so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established by India.”

Following this, India once again rejected the “absurd claims” and “baseless arguments” while asserting that the northeastern state is an “integral and inalienable part of India.”

The Ministry of External Affairs, in an official statement, noted that the people of Arunachal Pradesh will “continue to benefit” from India’s development programmes and infrastructure projects.

“We have noted the comments made by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Defence Ministry advancing absurd claims over the territory of the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity,” said the official spokesperson of MEA, Randhir Jaiswal.

China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to the state to highlight its claims. Beijing has also named the area ‘Zangnan’.