There is no official international border between India and China. They share a Line of Actual Control and conflicting perceptions of the de-facto line for about 3,400 kilometers.
Less than a week after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping clashed during the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg, Beijing unveiled its 2023 edition of the’standard map,’ which incorrectly depicted sections of India as Chinese territories.
The map, which incorrectly depicts parts of India within China, as well as the shift of the 9-dash line into the 10-dash line, comes shortly before the G-20 meeting in New Delhi, and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s likely travel to India to attend the same.
The 9-dash line is a U-shaped line drawn on a map in the 1940s by a Chinese geographer asserting claim to 90% of the South China Sea, which the Philippines refers to as the North Philippines Sea. This is a violation of international law, namely the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The most recent map depicts Taiwan within China, with commentators interpreting the move from a 9-dash line to a 10-dash line.
“On Monday, the 2023 edition of China’s standard map was officially released and launched on the standard map service website hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources.” “This map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries around the world,” stated the Chinese state-owned publication Global Times on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The 2023 edition of China’s standard map was formally released on Monday and made available on the Ministry of Natural Resources’ standard map service website. This map was created using the drawing method of China’s and other nations’ national boundaries… pic.twitter.com/bmtriz2Yqe
The cartographic aggression depicts India’s Arunachal Pradesh state and sections of India’s Jammu and Kashmir inside China, symbolizing the Chinese Communist Party’s expansionist drive from 1949.
Previously, during a disagreement with Vietnam, China submitted a map featuring the nine-dash line to the United Nations.
According to TIME magazine, Chinese passports are currently “emblazoned with a map with nine dashes through the South China Sea” as well as a tenth one that assures Taiwan is counted as Chinese territory.
The boundary dispute between India and China
There is no official international border between India and China. They share a Line of Actual Control and conflicting perceptions of the de-facto line for about 3,400 kilometers.
The two nations fought a war in 1962, when China invaded the Aksai Chin region, which was historically part of India’s Jammu and Kashmir, and vacated Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast, which it considers to be part of the Tibet region.
