China ‘renames’ non-existent rivers, ‘piece of land’ in Arunachal Pradesh

GUWAHATI: China’s latest claim to Arunachal Pradesh by releasing a list of “standardised geographical names” for 11 places in the frontier state turns out to be a random naming of isolated forest tracts, nondescript peaks, non-existent rivers and town areas superficially bound together as part of Cona, Zayu and Medog counties in Nyingchi prefecture of Tibet.

For instance, the coordinates of two rivers named by the Chinese as “Qiburi He” and “Geduo He” weren’t provided, with the civil affairs ministry simply claiming these were “specific locations”.


“Bangqin” referred to a “piece of land” in a forested mountainous area beyond Zemithang, India’s last village in Tawang district, close to the imagined McMahon Line that demarcates the border.

O fficial sources dismissed the exercise as “mere mischief” by China ahead of the Cope India IAF-US Air Force air combat exercise at Bengal’s Kalaikunda airbase from April 10 to21. China’s ministry of civil affairs had released the list on April 2, using both Tibetan and Chinese pinyin — the system of writing native names and words in the Latin alphabet, based on their pronunciation.



It described the list, the third of its kind, as an “addition of publicly used place names in southern Tibet” along with categories, administrative districts and select coordinates. One entry in the Chinese list is a settlement named “Jiangkazong”, whose coordinates lead to a house mapped to Tawang town, west of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya there.

The given coordinates of another so-called settlement, “Dadong”, point to a large open space marked in Google Maps as being part of Tato town of Arunachal’s West Siang district.


Another “piece of land” named by the Chinese as “Guyutong” turns out to be a forest clearing near the western bank of Lohit river, north of Kibithoo in Anjaw district in eastern Arunachal. The coordinates given for “Luosu Ri”, “Diepu Ri”, “Dongzila Feng”, “Nimagang Feng” and “Jiuniuze Gangri” reveal mountain tops spread across various locations in the northeastern state.

While India has dismissed China’s claims, the Chinese foreign ministry continues to assert its “sovereign right” on the 11 places named in the latest list. It claims these are part of “Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet”.

In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US was opposed to any “unilateral attempts to advance a territory claim by renaming localities”.