India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China after Beijing needled New Delhi on Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, sparking fresh tensions between the two Asian giants.
Within days of talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Africa, Beijing officially released the 2023 edition of its “standard map,” which shows Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of Chinese territory.
“We reject these claims (by China) as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
India 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, he said.
The map released on 28 August, four days after the Modi-Xi meeting in Johannesburg on the margins of the BRICS summit, shows 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 Chinese territory in the new map.
The map was introduced via the Ministry of Natural Resources’ standard map service website. ”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,” Chinese state-run Global Times said.
The map also incorporates China’s claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. China’s neighbours like Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have also laid claims over the disputed sea.
New Delhi is unlikely to take China’s move kindly since the two countries have already been locked in a tense border row at eastern Ladakh since April-May 2020, resulting in bilateral ties touching a new low. Despite umpteen meetings between top military commanders and diplomats, the border has not been resolved so far.
Amid the border dispute, PM Modi held talks with President Xi in Johannesburg on 24 August at which the two sides agreed to step up efforts for the disengagement of troops and de-escalation of tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
A day later, however, the two sides indulged in diplomatic sparring after the Chinese claimed that PM Modi had sought a meeting with Xi while New Delhi stated that there was a pending request from the Chinese side for the bilateral meeting.
China’s latest action comes about ten days before President Xi visits New Delhi for the G20 Summit to be hosted by India on 9-10 September.