(TibetanReview.net, Sep02’23) – After diplomatic protests by India, the Philippines and Malaysia, three more countries have joined in the chorus of criticisms of China’s cartographic aggression on their land and maritime territories depicted in the 2023 edition of its “standard map” which was released on Aug 28. These include Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan.
The map shows the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and its Ladakh territory of Aksai Chin as Chinese territory, with the latter being already under its occupation rule along with Tibet.
The map also shows almost the whole of the South China Sea as China’s maritime territory, ignoring even the exclusive economic zone sovereignty of the other coastal countries.
The littoral states in the disputed South China Sea protest China’s so-called nine-dashed line in the maritime region that consists of 12% of the world’s total fish and felicitates approximately one-third of all global maritime trade.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marsudi insisted Aug 31 that China must release the map marking its territorial lines strictly in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982), reported the republicworld.com Sep 1.
“Indonesia’s position is not a new position, but a position that has always been presented consistently,” Marsudi has said.
Also, Spokesperson of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jeff Liu, asserted that the island nation is a “sovereign and independent country that is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China,” the report added. The remark came as China’s 2023 map reiterates Beijing’s claim over Taiwan and its outlying islands.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has, meanwhile, voiced its “consistent stance” on the sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly). It resolutely rejected “any maritime claims of China that are based on the nine-dash line in the East Sea,” the report said.
“Vietnam resolutely rejects any claims in the East Sea by China that are based on the dashed line,” newindianexpress.com Sep 2 quoted Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Pham Thu Hang as saying.
China’s official map released this week violates Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel Islands and jurisdiction over its waters, Bloomberg.com Sep 1, likewise, quoted Pham Thu Hang as saying in a statement.