India on Tuesday reiterated that the Union Territory of Ladakh is an integral part of the country, saying no amount of denial by China can change this established fact, after Beijing objected to New Delhi’s move to formally identify 28 geographical features in the region.
The home ministry had announced on October 2 that 28 places and features in Ladakh had been identified using standard place and feature names on the official Survey of India map, in consultation with the Union Territory administration and local stakeholders. India and China have been working to normalise bilateral ties following the military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that began in 2020 and lasted more than four years. “UT of Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India. China claims territory in the region, while India maintains that Ladakh is an integral part of the country. The move comes amid a broader pattern of disagreements over geographical names along the disputed border. India has consistently rejected such claims and maintained that assigning names to places does not change their territorial status. The two sides have held talks to address their longstanding border dispute.
Responding to media queries on comments made by the Chinese side, Jaiswal also defended the government’s move to identify the 28 places and geographical features on the official map of the Survey of India, saying the announcement by the Union home ministry was “self-explanatory”. The exercise aims to facilitate the accurate recognition of these locations and improve public awareness about them, Jaiswal said, reiterating the rationale outlined in the home ministry’s announcement. The MEA’s response came after China on Tuesday said it had never recognised the “so-called” Union Territory of Ladakh and described India’s move to publish standardised names for the locations as “illegal and invalid”. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the move could not change what Beijing described as the status of the western section of the China-India border. China has announced standardised names for locations in Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as “south Tibet”.
No amount of denial by the Chinese side can change this established fact,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement on Tuesday.
