"Preposterous": Congress MP Manish Tewari on China including Arunachal in its "standard map"

The map released on August 28 shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map.

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Tuesday said China has no claim on Arunachal Pradesh, saying Chinese maps are "preposterous", as they are not in sync with the history of the Sino-India border dispute. His reaction came hours after China officially released the 2023 edition of its "standard map," which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory.

Speaking to ANI, the Congress MP said, "The absurdity and preposterousness of the Chinese claim is evidenced by the history of the Sino-Indian border dispute...Today, the real issue between India and China is that the Chinese have transgressed along the Line of Actual Control at multiple points on a theatre level..." The Congress leader further added under such circumstances the Government should seriously introspect whether it would be in accordance with India's self-respect to host President, Xi Jinping, in Delhi for the upcoming G20 summit.

"China is in illegal occupation of 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory along the LAC, that is what needs to be vacated...To sum it up, the Chinese maps are preposterous, they are not in sync with the history of the Sino-India border dispute, China has no claim on Arunachal Pradesh...", the Congress leader added. The map released on August 28 shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map.

The map was released by China's Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper. Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping met on the side lines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had said that in his conversation with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Modi had highlighted India's concerns on unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas. Earlier this year Beijing had unilaterally "renamed" as many as 11 Indian locations, which included names of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas.

The move had been criticised by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said "This is not the first time that China has attempted something like this (changing the names of areas in Arunachal Pradesh) and we have already condemned any such attempts. Regarding Arunachal Pradesh, we had also said that Arunachal Pradesh is an inseparable part of India) and imposing invented names like these will not at all change the reality." (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)