New Delhi, August 30
China has defended its release of a new “standard map” for 2023 that shows Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of its territory, and asked India to “stay objective and calm” and not indulge in “overinterpreting” the issue.
The Foreign Office had on Tuesday lodged a strong diplomatic protest and said such steps only complicated the resolution of the boundary question. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said: “Making absurd claims doesn’t make others’ territories yours.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that “on August 23, the Ministry of National Resources of China released the 2023 edition of the standard map”. “It is a routine practice in China’s exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law. We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm, and refrain from overinterpreting the issue,” he added when asked by a Beijing-controlled media house about his reaction to India’s diplomatic protest.