India protests China’s latest map, Jaishankar says ‘absurd claims’ an old habit

Xi is also expected to travel to New Delhi for the G20 Summit being hosted by India on September 9-10.

On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also rejected China’s “absurd claims” over territories.

Speaking at the NDTV Conclave ‘Decoding G20’, Jaishankar said: “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…”

“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 said.

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “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.”

“We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question,” he said.

On Monday, China’s state-run Global Times, in a social media post, said, “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,” it said.

The map displayed by the Global Times included Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin.

India has repeatedly told China that “Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”

The Chinese map also incorporated its claims over Taiwan and the nine-dash line, encompassing a large part of the South China Sea.