China destroys maps showing Arunachal in Indian territory

  • | Wednesday | 27th March, 2019

Guwahati: Customs officials in China have destroyed about 29,000 world maps, which they labelled as ‘problematic’, for not showing Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese territory (South Tibet) and also for depicting Taiwan as a separate country.A decade ago, names of places in Arunachal were written in Mandarin, instead of English or Hindi, in Google satellite maps. This consistent position has been conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions.” While China has been trying to impress upon the international community that Taipei is part of its territory, many global companies, including Air India, started listing Taiwan as Chinese Taipei. Those were eventually taken off after India protested. In 2017, China’s civil affairs ministry announced that it had standardised the names of six places in ‘South Tibet’ in Chinese characters, Tibtean and Roman alphabets.China’s state-run Global Times reported that the ‘incorrect’ world maps were destroyed by the Customs authorities at Qingdao in East China’s Shandong province. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the frontier state in February, China’s foreign ministry said its government has never recognised ‘the so called Arunachal Pradesh’ and is firmly opposed to the Indian leader’s visit to the east section of the China-India boundary and that visit of the Indian leadership may further ‘complicate the boundary question’.India had responded by saying, “Indian leaders visit Arunachal from time to time as they visit other parts of India.

Guwahati: Customs officials in China have destroyed about 29,000 world maps, which they labelled as ‘problematic’, for not showing Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese territory (South Tibet) and also for depicting Taiwan as a separate country.A decade ago, names of places in Arunachal were written in Mandarin, instead of English or Hindi, in Google satellite maps. Those were eventually taken off after India protested. In 2017, China’s civil affairs ministry announced that it had standardised the names of six places in ‘South Tibet’ in Chinese characters, Tibtean and Roman alphabets.China’s state-run Global Times reported that the ‘incorrect’ world maps were destroyed by the Customs authorities at Qingdao in East China’s Shandong province. According to the newspaper, the maps were produced by a company in East China’s Anhui province and were on their way to being exported to an unspecified foreign country.“The crackdown was aimed at enhancing public awareness on national sovereignty and raising people’s ability to distinguish such problematic maps,” said a Qingdao newspaper while reporting the incident on Monday.“What China did in the map market was absolutely legitimate and necessary because sovereignty and territorial integrity are the most important things to a country. Both Taiwan and South Tibet are parts of China’s territory which is sacred and inviolable based on international laws,” Liu Wenzong, a professor from the department of International Law of China Foreign Affairs University, told Global Times.The Qingdao province, since 2018, has joined hands with other departments to establish an information-sharing system for imported and exported maps to quickly identify and take action against problematic maps, Global Times said.China has been claiming that Arunachal is a part of its South Tibet Autonomous Region and reiterates this vociferously every time any Indian political functionary visits the frontier state. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the frontier state in February, China’s foreign ministry said its government has never recognised ‘the so called Arunachal Pradesh’ and is firmly opposed to the Indian leader’s visit to the east section of the China-India boundary and that visit of the Indian leadership may further ‘complicate the boundary question’.India had responded by saying, “Indian leaders visit Arunachal from time to time as they visit other parts of India. This consistent position has been conveyed to the Chinese side on several occasions.” While China has been trying to impress upon the international community that Taipei is part of its territory, many global companies, including Air India, started listing Taiwan as Chinese Taipei.

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