China says it does not recognize UT from Ladakh; disputes with India over the naming of geographical features

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal addresses a press conference on October 9, 2026 | Photo credit: ANI

India and China clashed on Tuesday (Oct 13, 2026) over New Delhi’s decision to standardize the names of 28 objects in Ladakh, including some along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has seen clashes between the Indian army and the People’s Liberation Army during the four-year dispute.

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (Oct 13, 2026) that it has “never recognized” the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh, which was created in 2019, and called India’s survey naming the area “illegal and invalid”, a charge New Delhi rejected.

“The UT in Ladakh is an integral and inalienable part of India. No amount of denial from the Chinese side can change this established fact,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “The formal identification of these (28) places on the Survey of India UT Ladakh map aims to facilitate their accurate recognition and better awareness among the general public,” he explained.

The spokesman was responding to comments from China’s foreign ministry earlier in the day. Asked at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing, spokesman Mao Ning said China has “never recognized the so-called ‘Union Territory of Ladakh’ unilaterally and illegally established by India, and firmly opposes the so-called ‘standardized names’ published by India”.

“This move by India is illegal and invalid and does nothing to change the fact that the western sector of the Sino-Indian border belongs to China,” she added, referring to the Indian government’s August 5, 2019 decision to split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories and dilute Article 370 of the Constitution. At the time, Beijing issued a scathing statement accusing India of undermining China’s “territorial sovereignty by unilaterally changing its domestic law”.

Beijing also made such a claim in September 2020 when it reacted strongly to India’s project to build an all-weather high-altitude road in eastern Ladakh.

First in 2 years

But it is the first such rift in two years, as the two sides re-established diplomatic and travel links between the two countries in a bid to normalize relations following the 2024 meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, suggesting the map remains a major point of contention.

The comments came 10 days after the Survey of India announced the standardization of the names of specific landforms in Ladakh, including 11 peaks, five mountains, six land areas, two glaciers, two passes, one valley, one river, one lake and one other water body.

Features identified on 3 October included Gogra as a “land area” and Hotsprings as a “water body”. Both sites are adjacent to Patrol Point 15 (PP-15), which saw heavy mobilization during the Indo-China tensions in the LAC following the deadly Galwan clashes in June 2020. The two militaries have agreed to withdraw from PP-15 in September 2022 as part of a series of withdrawal negotiations.

Cartographic tit for aunt

Both India and China are strengthening their territorial claims in the western and eastern sectors by naming features on official maps and creating administrative jurisdictions in a series of tit-for-tat cartographic arrangements that go back many years.

In March of this year, the local government in China’s western Xinjiang region announced the establishment of what it called “Cenling County” in the Aksai Chin region, to be administered under Kashgar Prefecture. The establishment of the county was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic. India claims 38,000 square kilometers in Aksai Chin, which is currently under Chinese control and administered under the Xinjiang region.

India then said it “categorically rejects any mischievous attempts by the Chinese side to assign fictitious names to places that form part of India’s territory”.

India has also rejected China’s moves to name towns and objects in Arunachal Pradesh on its official maps, with Beijing claiming up to 90,000 square kilometers in the eastern sector.

Published – 13 Oct 2026 17:21 IST