On 28th August China released the 2023 edition of its “standard map”, staking a claim over Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea, news agency PTI reported. 

Notably, the map has been released days after PM Modi’s conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in South Africa where the two leaders discussed the situation along the Line of Actual Control. 

India has unequivocally reiterated, "Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India."

“China is frustrated and doing all sorts of propaganda. The release of the map just a week after PM Modi met Xi and a week before the G20 Summit in India suggests its intentions. The world knows they are expansionist and have occupied territories the world over illegally”, a top official said. “Arunachal is an integral part of India and Chinese map is illegal”, the official added.

The news agency referred to a tweet by the state-run Global Times, which stated, “This map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world.” 

The map displayed by the Global Times showed Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as South Tibet, and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war, PTI reported. The map also incorporated Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory though the island sees itself as a sovereign nation, and the nine-dash line, claiming a large part of the South China Sea, according to the news agency. 

Pointing to the “absurdity and preposterousness” of China’s claims, Congress MP Manish Tewari asked if the BJP-led government should ‘fete’ Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit. “Today, the real issue between India and China is that the Chinese have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at multiple points on a theatre level. Analysts believe that the Chinese are currently in occupation of 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory. This is the territory that the NDA-BJP government needs to get vacated. Under those circumstances, the Government should seriously introspect — though the G20 is a multinational forum — whether it would be in accordance with India’s self-respect to be feting a person in Delhi, Xi Jinping, who is in illegal occupation of 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory along the LAC,” he told news agency ANI. 

“To sum it up, the Chinese maps are preposterous, they are not in sync with the history of the Sino-India border dispute, China has no claim on Arunachal Pradesh…,” Tewari added. 

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking the Union government for a “surgical strike” on China. “(The PM) went to the BRICS Summit recently and met the Chinese Premier. Now this map has come out. So, he should be asked this question — how does it feel? It breaks our hearts. What Rahul Gandhi said is true that China has transgressed in Ladakh. China has eaten up our land. China is trying to enter Arunachal too. Do a surgical strike on China if you have the guts,” Raut told reporters. 

Centre has registered a strong protest through diplomatic channels with Beijing on China's so-called 2023 "standard map” which lays claim to Indian territory. In response to media queries on the matter, External Affairs Ministry's Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi Monday said, "We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 "standard map” of China that lays claim to India’s territory." 

"We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question,” he added. 

Earlier this year in April, after China released a third set of names in Chinese, Tibetan and Pinyin characters for Arunachal Pradesh, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had asserted, “Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India.” 

Image Source: OpIndia