- The dragon resurfaced just before the G-20 meeting in India
- China's habit of changing the map is old, it will not make any difference in reality, instead the border dispute will worsen: India
Beijing/New Delhi: Ahead of next week's G-20 summit in India, the shoulder dragon has once again shown its colors. China, which claims to be negotiating peace at the BRICS summit, has once again sparked controversy by releasing its official map on Monday. In its map, China shows India's Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai China as well as Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea as part of China. However, India rejected the Chinese map saying that China has a habit of publishing such maps. There is no point in showing only the areas of other countries in one's own map. India strongly opposes every such attempt by China.
China's state-run Global Times shared a post on social media X (Twitter), saying, 'The 2023 edition of China's official map has been released on Monday. This map is presented on the Standard Map Service website organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This map has been compiled on the basis of the drawing method of national borders of China and different countries of the world.
In the map posted by Global Times, Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China are considered as part of China. Arunachal Pradesh is claimed by China as South Tibet while Aksai China was occupied by them in the 1962 war. India has repeatedly told China that Arunachal Pradesh is and always will be an integral and inalienable part of India.
This map of China also shows a nine-dash line claiming Taiwan as a separate island and a large part of the South China Sea. China considers Taiwan as part of its mainland. On the other hand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim territories in the South China Sea.
Moreover, on the one hand, China is talking about peace talks to reduce the ongoing tension on the border from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh and to promote cordial relations between the two countries. For this, Prime Minister Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping also held an informal meeting during the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. On the other hand, China is keeping the relations tense by continuing to claim Indian territories even before the G-20 meeting in India.
Meanwhile, as soon as China released the map, India has protested against it. External Affairs Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar said that China has a 'habit' of releasing such maps. But there is no point in just including the territories of other countries in one's own map. China has included territories in its map, which are not its own. This is his old habit. Just including some regions of India in its map will do nothing. Our government is very clear that this is our territory. China should refrain from making such meaningless claims. It does not make other people's territory yours.
However, Jaishankar separated the talk of troop withdrawal along the Line of Actual Control from the dispute over China's new map. He added that earlier in April 2023, China had also tried to change the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing made such serious efforts for the third time in 2018 and 2021.
