India rejects China claims in new “standard map”

livemint.com:

The Ministry of External Affairs rejected territorial claims made by China in its 2023 “standard map", which was released on Monday. The map showed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, which India claims as part of its territory, as part of China. China claims the former as “South Tibet" while it gained control over Aksai Chin during the 1962 India-China war.

"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,’ said Arindam Bagchi, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in a press release “We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," Bagchi also said. The map also claims parts of the South China Sea and Taiwan as part of China’s territory.

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also objected to China’s territorial claims. “China has even in the past put out maps which claim the territories which are not China’s, which belong to other countries. This is an old habit of theirs.

It is not something which is new. It started in the 1950s," he said, speaking at a media event. “We are very clear what our territories are.

This government is very clear about what we need to defend our territories. You can already see that on our borders. I think there should be no doubt about that.

Making absurd claims does not make other people’s territories yours," he added. The move comes even as China and India have made positive noises about the resolution of their border crisis, which has stretched on since 2020. Disengagement remains to be completed in Depsang and Demchok in the Western sector of the