‘Old habit of theirs’: Jaishankar on Chinese map showing Arunachal as its land
Source: Hindustan Times | Original Published At: 2023-08-29 11:58:16 UTC
Key Points
- China's 2023 standard map claims Indian territories Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin
- Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar rejects Chinese territorial assertions
- China also claims Taiwan and South China Sea in the map, drawing regional counterclaims
- Tensions escalate ahead of India-hosted G20 summit and Modi-Xi bilateral engagement
- India emphasizes disengagement and de-escalation along LAC for normalization
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday spoke on China’s latest map showing Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as its own territory.
Speaking to NDTV, Jaishankar said,”It’s an old habit of theirs. These (territories) are very much part of India. This government is very clear what our territories are. Making absurd claims doesn’t make others territories yours”.
Besides claiming Arunachal and Aksai Chin, which it occupied in the 1962 war, China has also claimed Taiwan and South China Sea in the newly released map. Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its mainland and its integration with the mainland is part of a vowed objective of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims over the South China Sea areas.
“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”, Chinese state-run Global Times said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.(ANI file)
China’s map provocation comes days ahead of the G20 nations summit which is being hosted by India from September 8-10. Several world leaders including US president Joe Biden, French president Emmanuel Macron and Chinese president Xi Jinping will be attending the event in Delhi.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jinping had met briefly at the BRICS summit venue in Johannesburg. During the interaction, Prime Minister Modi expressed concerns over massive deployment of PLA forces in East Ladakh. The PM made it clear that the route towards normalisation goes through disengagement and de-escalation along the 3,488 km LAC.
The relations between India and China have been strained since the two armies clashed at Galwan valley three years ago. Both the countries have held 19 rounds of military level talks since then.