On Sunday (August 9, 2026), Chinese media sharply criticized India’s recent decision to mark 27 sites in Arunachal Pradesh with their official standard names on its national map, calling it an act of self-deception that undermines the positive trajectory of bilateral ties and risks complicating efforts to appropriately manage border disputes.
Responding to repeated Chinese efforts to rename certain locations in Arunachal Pradesh, India on August 7, 2026 officially designated 27 sites in the border State — comprising tracts of land, mountain passes, a lake, and a monument — by their standard names on the official Indian map.
The Global Times, a newspaper run by China’s Communist Party, reported that China has been standardising geographical names in the region for a long time.
The report further noted that, as China-India relations seem to be improving and leaders from both countries are likely to engage on multilateral platforms, any unilateral action by India that escalates border tensions is pointless and will not serve the broader interests of their bilateral relationship.
The article referenced Qian Feng, director of the Research Department at the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University.
Mr. Qian stated that India should refrain from escalating the border issue into a broader conflict, as doing so could hinder the strengthening political relations between the two nations, the report added.
The report states that since 2017, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued six sets of standardised place names, totalling 112 names as of April 2026.
These designations include villages, mountain passes, rivers and peaks, and are accompanied by standardised Chinese and Tibetan names along with geographic coordinates.
At a regular press conference on April 14, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun reiterated that China does not acknowledge Arunachal Pradesh.
Citing Mr. Guo, the report stated: "China-India relations are currently largely stable.
China’s dedication to enhancing and advancing ties with India remains unchanged. We hope both countries will move in the same direction and take more actions that support and strengthen their bilateral relationship."
The newspaper further reported, citing Mr. Guo Xuetang, a professor at the Center for South Asia and Indian Ocean Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, that India’s recent designation of 27 locations is a unilateral administrative action and does not change the area’s legal status.
According to Mr. Guo Xuetang, India’s move is an attempt to strengthen its claim of control over the area and create additional leverage in future boundary negotiations and claimed that such actions does not have any practical meaning and can further derail the negotiations between two countries.
According to Mr. Guo’s, the China-India border dispute can only be resolved through equitable negotiations and a just settlement grounded in historical and legal principles, whereas unilateral measures that heighten tensions or alter the existing situation will undermine mutual trust and destabilize the border.
