India on Tuesday rejected China’s contention that it has “never recognised” the Union Territory of Ladakh as well as its opposition to New Delhi’s naming of features in the region, and emphasised that the Chinese side’s actions cannot change the established fact that Ladakh is “an integral and inalienable part” of the country.
The strong response from external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal came hours after his Chinese counterpart Mao Ning described the Indian government’s recent move of announcing standard names for 28 locations in Ladakh as “illegal and invalid” and contended that Beijing does not recognise the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The terse exchange reflected continuing tensions between India and China over a disputed border as the two sides work to normalise ties, which fell to an all-time low due to a military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that began in 2020 and lasted more than four years. As part of this process of normalisation, the two sides have held talks aimed at resolving their long-standing boundary dispute.
“It is reiterated that the UT of Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India. No amount of denial by the Chinese side can change this established fact,” Jaiswal said while responding to Mao’s comments on Ladakh.
Jaiswal said the Union home ministry’s October 2 announcement on standard names for 28 places and features in Ladakh was self-explanatory as these locations had been “identified with standard place and feature names on the official map of Survey of India”. This, he said, was done in consultation with the Union Territory of Ladakh and local stakeholders.
“Identifying these places formally on the Survey of India map of UT of Ladakh is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large,” Jaiswal said.
The Union home ministry’s announcement regarding the standard names for the 28 features and places in Ladakh was seen as part of a new policy of responding to similar moves by China over the past few years to assert its claim on territories along the LAC held by India. The first such list of standard names for 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh was issued in August.
When Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao was asked about the development at a regular media briefing in Beijing, she replied: “China has never recognised the so-called ‘Union Territory of Ladakh’ unilaterally and illegally established by India, and firmly opposes India's publication of so-called ‘standard place names’.
“India's move is illegal and invalid, and cannot change the objective fact that the western section of the China-India border has always belonged to China,” she said.
The Indian government had split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh when it scrapped the region’s special status in August 2019.
The Union home ministry’s announcement on standard names for locations in Ladakh included 10 peaks, two passes, three mountains, seven “land areas”, two glaciers, two water bodies, a valley and a river.
In recent years, China has repeatedly announced “standardised names” for dozens of places in Arunachal Pradesh as part of its claims on Indian territory. China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as “south Tibet” and there have been instances of Chinese authorities issuing stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh.
China has sought to rename dozens of locations in Arunachal Pradesh, including towns, rivers and geographic features, but India has argued that such actions will not change the reality. China resorted to such renaming exercises in 2017, 2021, 2023 and 2024, usually during periods of strained bilateral relations.