Null and void: China as mountaineers name Arunachal peak after 6th Dalai Lama

A livid China said the act of a group of Indian mountaineers naming a peak in Arunachal Pradesh after the 6th Dalai Lama was illegal. Addressing a media briefing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson reiterated the nation’s longstanding claim on Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Zangnan.
“It’s illegal, and null and void for India to set up the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ in Chinese territory,” spokesperson Lin Jian said.
Lin said he was unaware of the specific incident but affirmed China’s consistent position on the region. India has not yet reacted to China’s remarks but has maintained that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India and assigning “invented” names does not alter this reality.
On September 25, a team of the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS), under the Ministry of Defence, scaled an unnamed and uncharted peak in Arunachal Pradesh and named it after the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso. The expedition to the 20,942-foot peak was led by director Colonel Ranveer Singh Jamwal.
According to a Defence Ministry press release, the naming of the peak after the 6th Dalai Lama was a tribute to his “timeless wisdom and profound contributions” to the Monpa community. The Monpa community is the only nomadic tribe in Northeast India.
The Defence Ministry said the peak was one of the most technically challenging and unexplored summits in the region, highlighting how the mountaineering team overcame “sheer ice walls, treacherous crevasses, and a two-km-long glacier”.
Sources said the necessary formalities were being completed to ensure that “Tsangyang Gyatso Peak” is recognised on India’s official map.