NEW DELHI/BEIJING, April 4 (Reuters) – India rejected on Tuesday the renaming by China of locations in what India regards as its jap state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as a part of its territory.

China and India fought a struggle alongside elements of their poorly demarcated 3,800-km (2,360-mile) frontier in 1962 and clashes in mountainous areas lately have critically strained relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The newest indignant alternate of phrases was triggered on Sunday when China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued an announcement during which it mentioned it had “standardised” the names of 11 locations, together with 5 mountains, in what China calls its southern Tibet area.

The assertion included a map that confirmed the 11 locations renamed by China as being inside “Zangnan”, or southern Tibet in Chinese, with Arunachal Pradesh included in southern Tibet and China’s border with India demarcated as simply north of the Brahmaputra river.

India rejected that.

“Arunachal Pradesh is, has been and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India,” Indian international ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi mentioned on Twitter.

But a spokesperson on the Chinese international ministry mentioned the title modifications have been “completely within the scope of China’s sovereignty”.

“The southern Tibet region is Chinese territory,” the spokesperson, Mao Ning, informed a daily media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.

At least 24 troopers have been killed when the 2 sides clashed within the Ladakh area, on the western a part of their border, in 2020 however the state of affairs calmed down after diplomatic and army talks.

In December final yr, troops from the 2 sides engaged in scuffles within the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh.

Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar mentioned final month the state of affairs in Ladakh was fragile and dangerous, with army forces deployed very shut to one another in some locations.

Reporting by Tanvi Mehta, Laurie Chen and Ryan Woo; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Tom Hogue, Robert Birsel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.