China claims Arunachal ownership: India dismisses China’s claims

New Delhi: India has dismissed a new “standard” map released by China that claims ownership of Arunachal Pradesh - which Beijing calls South Tibet - and Aksai Chin - occupied during the 1962 war. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said China has a “habit” of releasing such maps and told China that merely including other countries’ territories in its maps meant nothing.

“China has put out maps with territories (that are) not theirs. (It is an) old habit. Just by putting out maps with parts of India... this doesn’t change anything. Our government is very clear about our territory. Making absurd claims does not make other people’s territories yours,” he told NDTV.

Jaishankar also de-linked disengagement talks along the Line of Actual Control with the China’s new map, the release of which on Monday was sandwiched between the G20 Summit in Delhi next weekend and last week’s “informal conversation” between China’s Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BRICS Summit in South Africa. PM Modi had then conveyed to Mr Jinping India’s “concerns over unresolved issues along LAC and other areas along the India-China border”.

The Congress on Tuesday took strong objection to the inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in China’s map and asserted that these are inalienable parts of India which no such illegal representation or arbitrarily invented map by the “habitual offender” can change.

The party also urged the government to use the upcoming G20 Summit to expose China’s transgressions into Indian territory at the global stage. The Congress’ reaction came a day after China officially released the 2023 edition of its “standard map” incorporating Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.