China renames 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh; India rejects ‘invented’ names

India reacted strongly to China renaming15 places inside Arunachal Pradesh. China's Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that it had standardized in Chinese characters, Tibetan and Roman alphabet the names of 15 places in Zangnan, the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.
Acknowledging that the ministry of external affairs (MEA) had seen reports to this effect, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “This is not the first time China has attempted such renaming of places in Arunachal. It had also sought to assign such names in 2017.”
“Arunachal Pradesh,” he said, “has always been, will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact. ”
Among the official names of the 15 places, which were given precise coordinates, eight are residential areas, four are mountains, two are rivers, and one is a mountain pass. The eight residential places in the second batch are Sêngkêzong and Daglungzong in Cona County of Shannan Prefecture, Mani'gang, Duding and Migpain in Medog County of Nyingchi, Goling, Damba in Zayu County of Nyingchi, and Mêjag in Lhunze County of Shannan Prefecture.
The four mountains are Wamo Ri, Dêu Ri, Lhünzhub Ri and Kunmingxingzê Feng. The two rivers are Xênyogmo He and Dulain He, and the mountain pass is named Sê La, in Cona County.
China’s ministry of civil affairs issued a statement saying they have “standardised” names for 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, to be used on Chinese maps. This is the second time China has renamed the names of the places of Arunachal Pradesh.
On October 23, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, passed a new law citing “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”. The committee had stated that the new law will come into effect from January 1. The law is not meant specifically for the border with India. China shares its 22,457 km land boundary with 14 countries, including India.