​​​ANKARA

 A fresh row over contested areas has erupted between India and China, with two sides issuing diverging statements.

India on Wednesday rejected what it called "preposterous attempts" by China to rename places in the northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state.

“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

India and China have counterclaims in the northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state of the South Asian nation. Arunachal Pradesh is known as Zangnan in China, with Beijing stating it has “never recognized the so-called Arunachal Pradesh.”

"Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically,” the spokesman said, adding: “Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”

New Delhi’s statement came after China’s Civil Affairs Ministry published its latest names for some 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which covers 15 mountains, five residential areas, four mountain passes, two rivers, and one lake.

However, Beijing said: “Zangnan is China’s territory,” state media reported.

China considers the contested areas as “part” of its southern Tibetan autonomous region, which Beijing calls Xizang.

“Chinese government has standardized the names of some places in Zangnan, which is entirely within the scope of China’s sovereignty,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing.

The statement coincides with New Delhi’s move to block the X accounts of the state-run Xinhua News Agency, as well daily Global Times in India on Wednesday.

Since May 2020, the two Asian giants had been engaged in a tussle along the 3,500-kilometer (2,174-mile) Line of Actual Control -- their de facto border in the Ladakh area of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

In July of that year, at least 24 soldiers, including 20 from India and four from China, were killed in clashes. That led to a tense and long-running standoff that has seen both sides deploy thousands of military personnel and heavy weapons in the region.

However, the India-China relations saw a thaw last year and since then both countries have been working to improve relations with each other.