00:00India has taken a tit-for-tat step in response to China by approving the renaming of 30 places
00:19in Tibet.
00:20This move is seen as a strong rebuttal to China's decision to rename places in Arunachal
00:25Pradesh.
00:27The renaming initiative by the Indian government comes in the wake of heightened tensions between
00:31India and China, particularly following the violent clash in the Pangong Tso area in eastern
00:36Ladakh on May 5, 2020.
00:39Since then, the two nations have engaged in 21 rounds of military talks to address the
00:44standoff but are yet to reach a comprehensive resolution.
00:48This context underscores the strategic importance of the renaming exercise as a means for India
00:53to reaffirm its steadfast claims and respond to China's aggressive nomenclature policies.
00:59As per News18, the approved renaming by the Indian government includes 11 residential
01:03areas, 12 mountains, 4 rivers, 1 lake, 1 mountain pass, and 1 piece of land.
01:10These names, grounded in historical research and reflecting affiliations to the Tibet region,
01:15will be officially released by the Indian Army and incorporated into their maps along
01:20the Line of Actual Control, i.e., LAC.
01:22The names will be presented in Chinese characters Tibetan and Pinyin.
01:28India's decision is a direct response to China's April 2024 action of renaming 30 places in
01:34Arunachal Pradesh, which India strongly opposed.
01:37China's practice of issuing standardized names for places in Arunachal Pradesh since
01:422017, with the latest list nearly matching the combined total of previous lists, has
01:47been a point of contention.
01:49The Ministry of External Affairs has consistently maintained that such invented names do not
01:53change the reality of Arunachal Pradesh being an inalienable part of India.
01:58The recent move to rename places in Tibet is a strategic assertion of India's stance
02:01against China's expansionist policies, which have faced global criticism, notably in the
02:06South China Sea.
02:07Minister of External Affairs S Jayashankar, who has taken charge for the second term,
02:12reaffirmed India's firm position on issues concerning China and Pakistan.
02:16He emphasized that India would address both border issues and cross-border terrorism with
02:22resolute determination.
02:23As far as Pakistan and China are concerned, the relations with those countries are different
02:28and the problems there are also different.
02:31Our focus with regard to China will be on finding a solution for the border issues and
02:35with Pakistan, we would want to find a solution to the issues of years of cross-border terrorism,"
02:41Jayashankar said after resuming office.
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