The governments of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan joined India on Thursday in denouncing China’s new national map and accused Beijing of showing their land as Chinese land in stern declarations.
To address what Beijing has previously referred to as “problematic maps” that it alleges distort its territorial borders, China released a revised edition of its national map on Monday.
On Tuesday, India strongly objected to China’s so-called “standard map” that claimed Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region, saying that such actions simply made the boundary dispute more difficult to resolve.
China’s assertions were likewise denied by the Ministry of External Affairs as having “no basis.”
In response to the Chinese action, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, “Just making ridiculous claims does not make other people’s territories yours.”
The West Philippine Sea still contains large portions of Philippine land features, according to the Philippine government’s criticism of China’s so-called “standard map” from 2023.
The nine-dash line, now a 10-dash line, that purportedly depicts China’s limits in the South China Sea was included on a contentious map released by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources on August 28.
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza issued a statement saying, “This latest attempt to legitimise China’s purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
The nine-dashed line has already been declared unlawful by the 2016 Arbitral Award, according to Daza, who also urged China to uphold its UNCLOS duties.
According to the award, “maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the ‘nine-dash line’ are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China’s maritime entitlements under the Convention,” according to Daza, who was quoted by the official Philippine News Agency.
“The Philippines, therefore, has asked China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” she continued.
A Chinese national map that included the Spratly Islands and portions of the Kalayaan Island Group as “national boundaries” was published in 2013, and Manila objected to it.
The Malaysian government announced on Thursday that it would write a letter of protest to China in response to that country’s statements made in the “China Standard” about the South China Sea. The action, according to Foreign Minister Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir, was a follow-up measure.