Chinese authorities this week released a new version of the country’s official map, which was quickly criticized by neighboring countries. It is about the inclusion, as has been done in previous drafts, of the island of Taiwan (which Beijing regards as a rebellious peninsula it wants to regain control of) and its territorial claims throughout the South China Sea, with the claims to the sovereignty of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Malaysia are ignored. and Brunei. The novelty includes the inclusion of two disputed territories with India: Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi was precisely the first to contest the new map, issuing a diplomatic “strong protest” against Beijing. On Tuesday, the day after the map was unveiled, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi released a statement criticizing the inclusion of Indian areas in the drawing. “We reject these claims as unfounded. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the border issue.” He wrote.
India and China share a border of about 3,500 kilometers and have different views on the areas of Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. Between October and November 1962, the two countries were at war, with both regions at stake. The fighting ended when Beijing unilaterally declared a ceasefire and retreated to the Line of Actual Control — which does not coincide with the border claimed by both sides.
Aksai Chin is a strategic plateau in the Himalayas, connecting Tibet to western China, which also saw clashes in 2020 that resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. Relations between the two neighbors deteriorated after that. The area currently has a strong military detachment on both sides of the Line of Royal Control. Arunachal Pradesh is an Indian state, which China considers part of South Tibet. In April, it released another map in which it renamed several inland locations.
During the last meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated the need for both to “observe and respect” the line of royal control. But the Indians weren’t the only ones disputing the map.. Beijing responded to the protests, urging neighboring countries to look at the map “objectively and rationally”.
“Malaysia does not recognize China’s claims in the South China Sea as drawn on the ‘China Standard Map 2023 Edition’ covering Malaysia’s maritime area,” said the Kuala Lumpur Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Philippines and Vietnam also contested the card, with Manila calling on Beijing to “act responsibly and fulfill its obligations” under international law.
The map shows the “line of ten dashes” (in other versions it has nine or eleven), which dates back to 1946. This forms a U, the base of which is nearly 1,500 kilometers south of Hainan Island. This line crosses the exclusive economic zones of several countries, and in 2016 a UN arbitral tribunal ruled that the line had no legal basis. Beijing ignores this decision and has militarized several atolls and islands in the area to bolster its claims of sovereignty.
On the side of Taiwan, which is mapped as part of China, diplomacy spokesman Jeff Liu was clear: “As much as the Chinese government distorts its position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, it cannot achieve the government’s goal. of our country will not change. to exist”.
Source: DN
