Amid India’s rejection, China defends its new map

New Delhi, Aug 31: After India rejected China’s “absurd claims”, Beijing on Wednesday defended its move to release a new "standard map" for 2023 showing Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of its territory.

 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing that "on August 23, the Ministry of National Resources of China released the 2023 edition of the standard map".

 

 

 

"It is a routine practice in China's exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from over-interpreting the issue," Wang said.

External affairs minister Dr Jaishankar said, "China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit. Just by putting out maps with parts of India... this doesn't change in anything."

 

"Our government is very clear about what our territories are. Making absurd claims does not make other people's territories yours," Jaishankar told NDTV.

 

Lodging a strong protest against China, MEA on Tuesday rejected claims made by Beijing in the so-called "standard map" and said they have no basis to claim India’s territory. The Ministry of External Affairs said that such steps from the Chinese side would only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.

 

In response to media queries, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi 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.

 

 

The map released on August 28 by Beijing shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. The map also stakes claim over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

 

The map also incorporates China's claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have all claims over the South China Sea areas. It was released by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper.

 

 

This is not the first time that Beijing has employed such tactics.

 

In April this year, China had unilaterally “renamed” as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas.