On 28th August (local time), China released the 2023 edition of its territorial map as per its imagination, claiming Indian territories such as Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Ladakh (Aksai Chin region) as its own. Apart from Indian territories, China also included Taiwan and the contentious 9-dash line in the South China Sea.
Notably, the map was released when India is all set to host the G20 Summit on 9th September and 10th September. China is one of the G20 countries. Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Delhi for the G20 Summit.
According to a post by The Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Chinese government, the Ministry of Natural Resources launched China’s latest ‘standard map’ on its website on 28th August, marked as the latest edition of the standard map of the country.
As per a recent post, the national borders of China and other countries worldwide were used to compile this map. The Global Times also shared a version of the map that includes Indian territories such as Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin that China claimed as its own. India has repeatedly told China, “Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”
In addition, the map included China’s inclusion of Taiwan as part of its mainland and its claim over a large portion of the South China Sea through the nine-dash line. This integration is a crucial objective of Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, other countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have opposing claims over the same areas in the South China Sea.
China has repeatedly claimed parts of India, including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin. In December 2021, the Ministry of External Affairs strongly objected to China assigning its own name to 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh. MEA said, “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017. Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact.”
In April 2021, OpIndia reported about a Chinese citizen who made pro-China edits to open-source maps of the Line of Actual Control. In March 2019, it was reported that China destroyed over 30,000 world maps that showed Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.
It is notable here that Chinese President Xi Jinping just recently met PM Modi during the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, asserting that the two nations should hold comprehensive talks to ease border tensions. Against the backdrop of that discussion, and just days before the G20 Summit, China’s belligerent behavior in claiming Indian territories as its own displays a lack of sincerity on its part to resolve tensions at the LAC.
