TOPIC – Needless provocationThe Chinese government’s announcement on December 30 that it had come up with its own names for 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh could not have come at a more
precarious moment for an already
strained relationship. The move is
ostensibly aimed at “standardizing” how places in the Indian State are depicted in official Chinese maps, which show all of Arunachal as “south Tibet”. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement in response to the move that “assigning invented names” will not “alter” any facts on the ground and Arunachal’s status as an integral part of India. As the MEA noted, this is not the first time that Beijing has done so. In 2017, Chinese authorities issued “official” names for six places in Arunachal. The first instance followed a visit by the Dalai Lama to the State, which Beijing had protested. The list on this occasion is longer, and not only includes eight towns but also four mountains, two rivers and a mountain pass. The list covers 11 out of Arunachal’s 25 districts, extending from Tawang in the west to Dibang Valley in the north and Anjaw in the east. The spread of the locations suggests the places were chosen to
reiterate Chinese claims to the whole State. If the latest move is largely symbolic and will not, as the MEA observe, change facts on the ground, it needs to be seen against the backdrop of broader changes in China’s approach to the boundary dispute. The naming announcement was made ahead of a new border law coming into force on January 1, 2022. The law, which was proposed in March 2021 and calls for various Chinese government bodies to take steps to “safeguard” Chinese territory, was put forward a year into the crisis along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). New Delhi, which has expressed concern about the law, has seen it as an attempt to formalize the
transgressions made by the Chinese military since the summer of 2020 and put a stamp on China’s unilateral measures to redraw the LAC. The Chinese Foreign Ministry defended the latest move saying the matter was “within China’s sovereignty”. Yet, Beijing had a very different view on India’s own internal reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, which
elicited not only sharp statements from China but also led to Beijing raising the matter at the United Nations Security Council. The announcement this week came as India and China remain engaged at both diplomatic and military levels to complete the
stalled disengagement process along the LAC. Restoring relations, as well as the
status quo along the borders, will require mutual sensitivity and an
adherence to past agreements that helped keep the peace, rather than needless
provocations that expand an already long list of differences.
The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms, and antonyms
Precarious (adjective) – Not securely held or in position
Synonyms – Treacherous, grievous, distressing, dicey, baleful
Antonyms – Innocuous, beneficial, harmless, safe, advantageous
Strained (adjective) – Showing signs of nervous tension or tiredness
Synonyms – Contrived, factitious, pseudo, spurious, mincing
Antonyms – Impromptu, genuine, unconscious, extemporaneous, authentic
Ostensibly (adverb) – As appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so
Synonyms – Allegedly, assuredly, perchance, probably, conceivably
Antonyms – Implausibly, incredibly, improbably, impossibly
Reiterate (verb) – Say something again or a number of times, typically for emphasis or clarity
Synonyms – Reprise, replicate, reenacts, redo, duplicate
Antonyms – Creeple, ruin, enfeeble, veto, diminish
Transgressions (noun) – An offence
Synonyms – Breach, malefaction, trespass, misdeed, foible
Antonyms –Impeccability, morality, faultlessness, righteousness
Elicited (verb) – Evoke or draw out (a reaction, answer, or fact) from someone
Synonyms – Dredge, educe, wangle, evince, divulge
Antonyms – Ignore, overpass, forget, disregard, neglect
Stalled (verb) – Stop or cause to stop making progress
Synonyms –Halted, receding, regressing, arrested, ended
Antonyms –Afoot, ongoing, afloat, proceeding, operating
Adherence (noun) – Attachment or commitment to a person, cause, or belief
Synonyms –Abidance, conformity, obedience, compliance, accession
Antonyms –Delinquency, dereliction, flouting, infraction, defiance
Provocations (noun) – Action or speech that makes someone angry, especially deliberately
Synonyms –Goad, prod, stimulant, inducement, hassle
Antonyms –Compliment, subduing, disincentive, pleasure