China Monday released its standard map showing Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have all claims over the South China Sea areas.
The Global Times put out the map on social platform X, earlier known as Twitter. "The 2023 edition of China's standard map was officially released on Monday and launched on the website of the standard map service hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This map is compiled based on the drawing method of the national boundaries of China and various countries in the world," Global Times said.
In April, China had released a list of "standardized geographical names" for 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, along with a map depicting much of the state as "Zangnan", the southern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
India Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over the new map. "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," the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said.
"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 on Tuesday, India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar dismissed China's territorial claims. "Making absurd claims on India's territory does not make it China's territory," Jaishankar told news channel NDTV.
New Delhi's protest comes days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg last week and highlighted concerns about the stand-off on their disputed Himalayan frontier.
Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra was quoted as saying that in his conversation with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Modi highlighted India's concerns on unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.
"The Prime Minister underlined that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship. In this regard, two leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation," Kwatra had said.
Xi talked with Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit at Modi's request, according to a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson who insisted that China's position on the boundary issue between China and India is clear and consistent. It is left over from history and does not represent the entirety of China-India relations.
Tellingly, the release of new map of China comes days before the G20 summit under the presidency of India.
President leading Indian opposition party Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge has said: "We hope that the G20 summit in India (on Sept 9) will be another opportunity for us to expose China's transgressions into Indian territory on the global stage. The Modi government must ensure that the illegal Chinese occupation of 2,000 square kilometers of Indian territory along the LAC must end."
On the other hand, Congress Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said: "The only pending border issue with China is the illegal occupation of 2,000 sqkm at various points in Ladakh. The Modi government should get it vacated. The starting point for them is to publish a white paper on what happened between April 2020 and August 2023. There should be a candid admission; they should accept the unvarnished truth. The nation deserves to know the truth; every citizen is equally invested in the nation's sovereignty."
