China has sparked widespread outrage across the globe, after it released the 2023 edition of what Beijing claims is the country's standard map. Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh are among the South and South-East Asian territories marked within Chinese borders in map uploaded by the country's Ministry of Natural Resources on the website of its standard map service.
China has also included Taiwan as part of its official territory as well as the areas in South China Seas marked with the contentious Nine-Dash Line, which is disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
In a tweet, the state-run Global Times stated, “This map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world.” In a reply, one user said, “When your drawing method is based on fantasies.”
Many other social media users also took to the X platform to express their outrage. One user responded to the contentious map with a thumbs-down emoji, saying “Wrong map, wrong claims” while another posted, “In your dreams”. Yet another user wrote, “Why not every country draws random lines at this point...”
One of the Indian users tweeted, “Arunachal Pradesh will always remain Indian. Release how many maps as you want,” while another said, “Dont worry....when Xi comes to India he will see the correct map of India !!” Yet another wrote, “Drawing the new lines on paper will not increase your territories. This is India.”
Referring to the 9-dash Line marked in disputed territories in South China Sea, one user wrote, “Obviously bullying all of the SE Asian neighbors with that dashed line”, while another said, “The 9-dash line was declared invalid by international tribunal. Thus, it violates the territorial sovereignty of various SE Asian countries. China hides behind ridiculous rhetoric of being cooperative with @ASEAN”
