China's 2023 'standard map' reaffirms claims over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin
Beijing, August 29: China has unveiled its updated "standard map" for 2023, reaffirming its territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region. The map incorporates Arunachal Pradesh as part of China's South Tibet and considers Aksai Chin, occupied during the 1962 conflict, as its own territory. Furthermore, the map extends China's jurisdiction over Taiwan and the contentious South China Sea.
Besides, the map asserts China's sovereignty over the expansive nine-dash line, effectively staking its territorial assertion across a significant portion of the South China Sea. Notably, nations, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei hold their own competing claims over various regions within the South China Sea.
The map 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.
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had said in his conversation with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Modi highlighted India's concerns on unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control 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.
The chief planner of China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, Wu Wenzhong, said surveying, mapping and geographic information play an important role in boosting the development of the nation, meeting the needs of all walks of life, supporting the management of natural resources, and helping the construction of ecology and civilization.
"The next step will be to accelerate the application of geographic information data such as digital maps and navigation and positioning in the development of the digital economy, such as location-based services, precision agriculture, platform economy and intelligent connected vehicles," Wu said, as per China Daily.
Zhejiang has in recent years focused on the deep integration of the digital and real economies and has continued to promote the development of the digital economy, according to Li Yaowu, deputy secretary-general of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government.
China has territorial disputes with more countries than it shares its borders with. The Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, with Xi Jinping at the helm, has used deceitful tactics and manipulation in order to attempt to assert territorial control over other sovereign territories. Beijing has flouted all international norms in its expansionist bid to control more territory.
China has now staked claims on parts of India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, arguing that these locations were part of greater Tibet.
A desperate Beijing had in April this year unilaterally “renamed” as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas.
This is not the first time that Beijing has employed such tactics. Previously in 2017 and 2021, China's Civil Affair Ministry had renamed other Indian locations triggering another political confrontation. New Delhi called out China's expansionist plans then.
Previously, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Arindam Bagchi, while commenting on China's attempt to show its domination in places belonging to India's Arunachal Pradesh said: "This is not the first time that China has attempted something like this (changing the names of areas in Arunachal Pradesh) and we have already condemned any such attempts. Regarding Arunachal Pradesh, we had also said that Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India) and imposing invented names like these will not at all change the reality."
- ANI
