India Protests New China Map Claiming Territory Before G-20

Niluksi Koswanage
·3 min read
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New Delhi lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over the publication of an official map that shows China claiming Indian territory in the Himalayas, a sign that tensions over a border dispute are simmering before a major summit next month.

Beijing this week released an official map showing parts of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh under China’s control, expanding from a move in April to rename 11 areas in the region as part of southern Tibet. Aksai Chin, a disputed plateau in western Himalayas claimed by India but controlled by China, was also included.

“We reject these claims as they have no basis,” Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement late Tuesday. “Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.”

China released the map so publishers, companies and others have an official version to reference. Foreign firms sometimes run into trouble with the Chinese government over how they use maps. Last year, Seven & i Holdings Co.’s China-based convenience store business was fined for identifying Taiwan as an independent state on its website.

When asked about the map at a regular press briefing Wednesday in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said his government hoped the “relevant sides can remain objective and calm and refrain from overinterpreting.”

See: The China-India Border Dispute Bedeviling Ties: QuickTake

The latest flareup comes just days after President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefly spoke at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, asking officials to work at resolving the border dispute now in its third year.

The nuclear-armed Asian neighbors share a 3,488 kilometer (2,167 mile) border and are locked in their worst territorial conflict in four decades due to a deadly clash in May 2020. Several rounds of talks have done little to ease tensions, with thousands of soldiers, missiles and fighter jets still positioned along the Himalayan border.

Xi and Modi have mostly avoided direct talks since the dispute began despite crossing paths at a number of international meetings. Xi is expected to attend the G-20 leaders gathering in New Delhi on Sept. 9-10 and ahead of the meetings in India and South Africa, Chinese and Indian commanders had agreed to work swiftly to resolve the boundary issue.

Summits in the past has given China and India the opportunity to defuse tensions. An unscheduled meeting between Modi and Xi on the sidelines of a Group of 20 gathering in Hamburg in 2017 led to a resolution of a tense 70-day stand-off between the two armies, which were deployed toe-to-toe inside Bhutan.

The situation this time around is more complicated. China has sought to separate the border dispute from its overall relationship with India but New Delhi insists normal bilateral relations depend on resolving the border dispute.

India has discouraged companies from trading with — and investing in — China, banned some mobile phone applications developed by its neighbor and cut back on the issuing of visas to Chinese nationals.

--With assistance from Jing Li, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Allen Wan.

(Updates with a map and comment from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

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