Arunachal CM Khandu brushes aside China's territorial claims, repeated renaming of places: ‘We don’t give a damn'

BRushing apart China's repeated territorial reserve claims on Arunachal Pradesh, chief government minister Pema Khandu on th said that peking was not taken “seriously” by the people and that the state remains unfazed.Khandu said that Beijing's claims were nothing new, while stating that China's frequent attempts to rename regions in Arunchal Pradesh were out of “habit”.“This is not a new thing for us and we don't give a damn to these kinds of claims. We don't take it seriously,” ANI news agency cited Khandu as saying during a visit to Shillong. He further said that Arunachal Pradesh does not share a border with China but with Tibet, clarifying a fundamental geographical distinction.“It is very secure, and we do not share a border with China; we share a border with Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh shares a border with Tibet only,” Khandu said, according to ANI.Also Read | Renaming places in Arunachal is part of China's cultural expansionKhandu rejects 1962 comparison, highlights PM's ‘massive push’ to infraKhandu said that comparison between the border situation of 1962 and the present time “is misleading”. “...Comparing the infrastructure of 1962--or that era--with the present day is quite misleading. This is 2026--the era of 'New India' and a 'Developed India' (Viksit Bharat),” Khandu added.He further said that there had been “significant advancements” in India's border areas “starting from the main Kashmir region all the way to Arunachal Pradesh.” Khandu highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “massive push to infrastructure development”, saying it had made border regions “highly accessible”, ANI reported.China has since the Doklam stand-off in 2017, renamed as many as 82 cities and geographical regions in Arunachal Pradesh, with the last such tranche of names being released on April 10, 2026. The ministry of external affairs has frequently rejected such attempts, asserting that it does not change the ground reality. The MEA has termed China's attempts as “vain”, “preposterous”, and “mischievous.”The ministry has categorically stated that Arunachal Pradesh “was, is, and will always remain” an integral and inalienable part of India. MEA had earlier this year said such moves could affect the normalising of ties between New Delhi and Beijing.This came after reports that Beijing has established a third new county in the Aksai Chin region and assigned names to 23 locations in Arunachal Pradesh. “India categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places which form part of the territory of India…These actions by the Chinese side detract from ongoing efforts to stabilise and normalise India-China bilateral ties,” the MEA stated.