The “2023 edition of the standard map of China” released by the Ministry of Natural Resources on Monday has stirred considerable outrage in India for showing the disputed Aksai Chin region and the New Delhi-governed state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Chinese territory.
The latest edition of the Chinese official map also reinforces Beijing’s territorial claims over the South China Sea through the depiction of the ‘Nine-Dash line’. A tenth dash is shown on the east of Taiwan.
In 2016, an international tribunal formed under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) had ruled against Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. The ruling has been rejected by Beijing.
According to Chinese media, the Chinese official map was released during an event to mark the “Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day in Deqing county, Zhejiang province.
A Chinese official at the Ministry of Natural Resources reportedly said that that surveying and mapping were “important” for national development and management of natural resources.
India’s Position on Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh
The new Chinese map has drawn public and political condemnation in India, China’s largest land neighbour. Both the countries have been involved in a military standoff in the eastern Ladakh region at the western section of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at least since April-May 2020.
The Chinese map shows the Aksai Chin region around Ladakh as part of the Chinese territory. Beijing has controlled the region since the 1962 Sino-India border war but New Delhi has never validated these claims.
Indian home minister Amit Shah has previously told the Indian parliament that Aksai Chin is an “integral part” of the country.
In the eastern sector of the LAC, the Chinese map depicts Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory.
In April, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that “Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India,” while reacting to Beijing’s decision to assign new names to 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
Beijing calls the Arunachal Pradesh as Zangnan, or South Tibet.
‘Deliberately Provocative’ Action by China, Former FS Says
Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal wrote on social media platform X that the new Chinese map was “deliberately provocative” as it was released ahead of the possible visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to New Delhi for the G-20 Summit on 9-10 September.
Sibal opined that Beijing was “cocking a snook” at India, as he noted the recent meeting between Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the BRICS Summit last week.
Former federal minister and Congress party parliamentarian Manish Tewari called the new Chinese map as “preposterous” and “not in sync” with the history of India-China relations.
The opposition MP further urged the Indian government to “seriously introspect” if it would suit India’s “self-interest” to welcome Chinese President Xi at the G-20 Summit in view of the ongoing Ladakh border standoff.
Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney criticized the new Chinese map as “cartographic aggression”.
Subramanian Swamy, an MP from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), urged the government to react to the new Chinese map.