NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of China showing Arunachal Pradesh as its territory in its new “standard map”.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi on Wednesday (August 30), while leaving for Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi said that PM Modi should speak on the matter.
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“The map issue is serious. PM should speak about it,” said senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Earlier, India lodged its protest with China for showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of Chinese territory in its newly released “standard map”.
This was informed by external affairs ministry (EAM) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Tuesday (August 29).
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EAM spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so called 2023 ‘standard map’ of China that lays claim to India’s territory.”
“We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question,” he added.
It may be mentioned here that on Monday (August 28), China published a new map, which showed the Northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of the country.
According to the 2023 edition of its “standard map”, China staked claim, not only over Arunachal Pradesh, but also the Aksai Chin region in North India, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.
“This map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world,” China state-run English website Global Times reported.
It may be mentioned here that China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, whereas it occupied the Aksai Chin area of India in the 1962 war.
The “standard map” also included the sovereign nation of Taiwan, which China claims to be part of its territory.
China, while releasing its “standard map” also claimed stake to a major portion of the disputed South China Sea.