New Delhi: India has firmly dismissed China’s opposition to the formal identification of 28 geographical locations in Ladakh on official Survey of India maps, reiterating that the Union Territory remains an integral and inalienable part of the country.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a sharp rebuttal following remarks by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, who claimed that Beijing has never recognised the Union Territory of Ladakh. Mao described India’s notification of standard names for these geographical features as “illegal and invalid,” asserting that the mapping would not impact Beijing’s territorial claims along the western sector of the bilateral frontier.
Rejecting Beijing’s stance, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that external rhetoric cannot alter geopolitical reality. “We reiterate that the Union Territory of Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India. China’s denial cannot change this established fact,” Jaiswal said.
He clarified that the identification of the 28 locations and geographical features on the Survey of India map followed a standardisation exercise undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs in active consultation with the Ladakh administration and local stakeholders. The central initiative, originally notified earlier in the month, aims to assign standardised nomenclature to prominent peaks, passes, glaciers, and water bodies to facilitate accurate administrative identification and raise public awareness.
Diplomatic friction between the two neighbours has surfaced repeatedly over cartographic and naming exercises along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While Beijing has periodically attempted to unilaterally rename geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh, New Delhi has maintained that documenting and naming terrain within Indian borders is an internal sovereign prerogative.
Officials emphasised that the Survey of India’s updated maps serve legitimate domestic administrative purposes, adding that Beijing’s objections carry no legal weight.