On July 13, the United States Congressional Senatorial Committee passed a resolution recognising Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India.
The resolution was passed by Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, Tennessee’s Senator Bill Hagerty, and Texas’ Senator Jon Cornyn. The resolution was cosponsored by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).
The legislation reaffirms that the US recognises the McMahon Line as the international boundary between China and the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. It refused China’s claims that large portions of Arunachal Pradesh are their territory, which is a part of the PRC’s increasingly aggressive and expansionist policies, a media statement said.
UPDATE: This bipartisan resolution passed in Committee today! https://t.co/SowLNN6ase
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 13, 2023
This passage affirms the U.S. views the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Republic of India—not the People’s Republic of China—and commits the U.S. to deepening support and assistance to the region, alongside like-minded international partners.
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) July 13, 2023
“America’s values supporting freedom and a rules-based order must be at the centre of all of our actions and relationships around the world—especially as the PRC government pushes an alternative vision,” said Senator Merkley, who serves as the Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
“Committee passage of this resolution affirms that the United States views the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Republic of India—not the People’s Republic of China—and commits the US to deepen support and assistance to the region, alongside like-minded international partners,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senator Hagerty said at a time when China continues to pose grave and gathering threats to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, it’s critical for the United States to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our strategic partners in the region—especially India and other Quad countries—and push back against the CCP’s broader strategy of territorial aggrandisement that it has pursued in the South and East China Seas, the Himalayas, and the southern Pacific, according to an official statement.
“As tensions between India and China escalate over their shared border, the United States must stand strong in our defence of democracy by supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Senator Cornyn.
Further, Cornyn said this resolution would reaffirm that the US recognises Arunachal Pradesh as “part of the Republic of India”.
Earlier on April 5, the US had recognised Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and strongly opposed any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities, the White House has said.
The US reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 11 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet. The official names of the 11 places were released by China’s Ministry of civil affairs.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, while speaking to the media, mentioned in his statement that “The United States has recognised that territory (Arunachal Pradesh) for a long time (as an integral part of India). And we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities”.
Notably, India outrightly rejected China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that the State is an integral part of India and assigning “invented” names does not alter this reality.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in his statement, said that “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright”.
“Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality,” he added. It was the third batch of standardised geographical names for Arunachal Pradesh issued by China’s Civil Affairs Ministry.
In 2017, China’s Civil Affairs Ministry released the first batch of the standardised names of six places in Arunachal Pradesh, and the second batch of 15 places was issued in 2021.
China’s renaming of the places in Arunachal Pradesh came in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff that began in May 2020.
