India-China tension flare up; China claims, renames 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh

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China on Friday defended the renaming of 15 more places in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, claiming that the southern part of Tibet is an "inherent part" of its territory.
India asserted that the state has "always been" and will "always be" an integral part of India and that assigning "invented" names does not alter this fact. India's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as South Tibet.
The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC). Beijing routinely protests visits of top Indian leaders and officials to Arunachal Pradesh to reaffirm its claim.
China's renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh came in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff that began in May last year.
"We have seen such. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said as he was responding to a media query on reports that China has renamed some places in Arunachal Pradesh in its own language.
China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on Wednesday that it had standardised in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of 15 places in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh, according to state-run Global Times.
This is in accordance with regulations on geographical names issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, it said in a report.
Among the official names of the 15 places, which were given exact longitude and latitude, eight are residential places, four are mountains, two are rivers and one is a mountain pass, the report said.
This is the second batch of standardised names of places in Arunachal Pradesh given by China.
The first batch of the standardised names of six places was released in 2017.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet.
The report quoted Lian Xiangmin, stated to be an expert with the China Tibetology Research Centre in Beijing, claiming that the announcement is part of the national survey on place names that have existed for hundreds of years.
Following the standoff, India bolstered its overall military preparedness along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Arunachal Pradesh sector as well.

Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Manoj Pande said in October that China has increased the intensity of its military exercises and deployment of troops in its depth areas opposite the LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector.
He said that India has correspondingly readied contingency plans to deal with any eventualities.
Meanwhile, the Indian Defence Ministry has called China's action to change the status quo in several areas at Line of Actual Control as "provocative" and stated that threat assessment have resulted in reorganisation and realignment of forces to cater for the major augmentation of the Chinese forces and military infrastructure.
To resolve the issue, the militaries of the two countries have been engaged in dialogue at various levels. After sustained joint efforts, disengagement was carried out at many locations.
Troops continue to deal with Chinese troops in a firm, resolute and peaceful manner while ensuring the sanctity of India's claims.
The ministry also pointed out that numerous rounds of talks have taken place with the Chinese counterparts to deescalate the situation without compromising on India's stand of 'Complete Disengagement and immediate Restoration of status quo ante'. To this effect, 13 rounds of senior military commanders' meetings have already been concluded.
India and China have been engaged in border disputes for the last 20 months.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)