China includes Arunachal in new 'standard map'

India lodges protest, says such steps only complicate border dispute

- AJAI SHUKLA

In a resurgence of Beijing's ongoing aggression against cartographic New Delhi, the Chinese government has released its latest 'standard map' of its border areas, continuing to show several Indian regions, including the entire Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region, as part of the People's Republic of China.

The map, released by Beijing on Monday, inaccurately reflects inflated territorial claims regarding China's maritime borders. It depicts China's maritime borders with the so-called 'nine-dash line', covering large swathes of the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan.

India's External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: "We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question."