New Delhi has formalized a protest against a new Chinese map claiming Indian territory, a source at the Indian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, heightening diplomatic tension in light of the military standoff between the two nations.
The timing of the protest is significant as Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to attend next week’s Industrialized and Developing Countries (G20) Summit, which is to be held in New Delhi next week.
“We reject these allegations as they have no basis whatsoever. These measures on the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the border issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.
Bagchi said the formal protest was lodged through diplomatic channels on Tuesday against the map published on the website of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources.
The map shows that Arunachal Pradesh and the Doklam Plateau are among China’s borders, along with Aksai Chin in the western part, which is controlled by China but still claimed by India.
The 2023 edition of China’s standard map was officially released and launched on Monday on the website of the standard map service of the Ministry of Natural Resources. This map is compiled based on the drawing method of the national borders of China and different countries… pic.twitter.com/bmtriz2Yqe
– Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 28, 2023
Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar Subhramanyam also rejected China’s claim in a televised interview on Tuesday night.
“Making absurd claims about India’s territory does not make it China’s territory,” he said.
China recently refused to put visas in the passports of officials in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, instead using a stapled certificate. The country also refuses to recognize Indian sovereignty over part of Kashmir and refuses to send a delegation to a G20 meeting in Srinagar in May.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke informally with Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. [Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul]in Johannesburg, where Modi highlighted New Delhi’s concerns about unresolved border issues.
India’s foreign ministry said the two leaders had agreed to step up efforts to ease tensions on the disputed border between the two countries and bring home thousands of troops deployed in the region.
The border dispute led to a three-year stalemate between tens of thousands of Indian and Chinese troops in the Ladakh region. Three years ago, a clash in the region killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.
“The two sides should keep in mind the overall interests of bilateral relations and properly address the border issue, so as to jointly ensure peace and tranquility in the border region,” China’s foreign ministry said after the two-day meeting. parties. .
Indian and Chinese military commanders met earlier this month in an apparent attempt to stabilize the situation. A border, dubbed the “Line of Actual Control,” separates areas held by China and India, from Ladakh in the west to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in the east, which Beijing claims in its entirety.
India and China fought a war over the border in 1962. China claims about 90,000 square kilometers of territory in northeastern India, including Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi says China occupies 38,000 square kilometers of territory on the Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, where the current conflict is taking place.
Source: DN
