China released its new map on Sunday (August 28, 2023). In this ‘imaginary’ map, China has also claimed parts of India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh (Aksai Chin) along with Taiwan and the controversial 9-dash line in the South China Sea (9 virtual lines drawn by China on the South China Sea). has claimed.
This map was released at a time when India is preparing for the G-20 summit to be held on 9 and 10 September. Chinese President Xi Jinping is also coming to Delhi to attend the G-20 conference.
Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times shared this ‘imaginary’ map on X (formerly Twitter). It is also written that on August 28, the Ministry of Natural Resources launched a new ‘standard map’ of China on its website. The national borders of China and other countries around the world were used to create this map. It is shown as a new version of the Standard’s Map of the country.
At the same time, Union Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has termed China’s claim as absurd. He has said that nothing changes if someone releases a map. Describing it as an old habit of China, he said that our government is very clear about which are our territories. He said that someone else’s area does not become yours by making absurd claims.
Indian territories like Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin have been included in the map shared by ‘Global Times’. China had claimed it as its own. It is notable that India has told China many times that Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inseparable part of India.
Apart from this, in this map, China has also described Taiwan as its share. Apart from this, it also claimed a large part of the South China Sea through the 9-dash line. This is being seen as part of the expansionist policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Significantly, other countries like Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have already staked their claim in the South China Sea and have opposed this claim of China.
China has long claimed parts of India including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin. In December 2021, the Ministry of External Affairs had expressed strong objection to China giving its name to 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh. The Ministry of External Affairs had said, “We have seen such reports. This is not the first time that China has attempted to change the names of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had tried to give such names in April 2017 as well. Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will remain an integral part of India. Giving new names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not change this fact.”
In April 2021, OpIndia had reported about a Chinese national who had arbitrarily edited the open-source map of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in favor of China. In March 2019, it was revealed that China had destroyed over 30,000 international maps that showed Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India.
It is noteworthy that Chinese President Xi Jinping recently met PM Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg. It was said in this meeting that both the countries should hold comprehensive talks to reduce the border tension. But just before the G-20 summit, China has claimed India’s integral parts, it would not be wrong to say that the dragon can never improve.