New Delhi: India Tuesday reiterated that the Union Territory of Ladakh is an “integral and inalienable” part of the country, dismissing China’s claim on the territory. Earlier in the day, China rejected India’s recent statements on the standardisation of names in the Union Territory, asserting its claim on parts of Eastern Ladakh.
“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. As for the press release by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, which is being referred to, it is self-explanatory,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said in response to media queries.
He added: “The announcement mentions that the twenty-eight (28) places/features located in the UT of Ladakh have been identified with standard place and feature names on the official map of the Survey of India, and it has been done in consultation with the Union Territory of Ladakh and local stakeholders.”
Jaiswal underlined that the identification of these places “formally” on the Survey of India map, is to ensure “their accurate recognition” and “awareness among the public at large”. India on 2 October released a public list of names of geographical features within Ladakh, in a tit-for-tat move for China’s similar actions in the past.
The latest list has irked China, with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning earlier Tuesday underlining that Beijing has “never recognised” the “so-called Union Territory of Ladakh” and that this was “unilaterally and illegally established” by India.
Mao added: “(China) firmly opposes India’s release of so-called standardised names. India’s move is illegal and invalid; it cannot alter the objective fact that the western sector of the China-India border has always belonged to China.” The Chinese statement came in response to a media query.
The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs on 2 October identified 28 places in consultation with the government of the Union Territory of Ladakh. The places included peaks, mountains, land areas, rivers and other water bodies. A total of 10 peaks, two passes, seven land areas, three mountains, two water bodies, two glaciers, a valley and a river were identified, with their names standardised by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The move by India comes following a number of “standardisation” maps issued by China in the last few years, staking claim to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing considers Arunachal Pradesh “Southern Tibet” and has accordingly issued names in its own language for places in the Indian state. China, in a few instances, has also issued stapled visas to Indian citizens from the state.
The cartographic back and forth first began in 2017, with China renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh. Since then it has issued similar lists in 2021, 2023 and 2024. India has continued to maintain that these attempts by China do not change the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is an “inalienable” part of the country.
The militaries of the two countries clashed in Eastern Ladakh in the summer months of 2020, which led to a chill in diplomatic ties. In October 2024, India and China announced an agreement to disengage across the friction points at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which allowed for the two sides to begin a political normalisation in ties.
Since then a number of confidence-building measures have been undertaken, including the resumption of direct air services, issuance of tourist visas for Chinese nationals and the holding of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to the Chinese city of Tianjin in 2025 for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of States summit, while Chinese President Xi Jinping was recently in New Delhi for the BRICS Leaders’ Summit held last month.
The two leaders have also met on the margins of the BRICS Summit in the Russian city of Kazan in 2024, directing their governments to begin the normalisation process. The two countries have long had boundary issues.
More recently, in 2025, the two Special Representatives on the Boundary Question—Ajit Doval, the National Security Adviser and Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister—have agreed to work towards an early harvest border deal, allowing the two countries to demarcate the international boundary where there is no dispute.
The two countries have also agreed to get expert groups established under the WMCC—the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs—to look into the boundary question further.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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