Mumbai: China's official release of latest edition of the 'standard map,' which showed Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory, has raised heat and dust in political circles. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday weaponised China's inclusion of the northeastern state on its map to launch an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He aligned himself with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims in Ladakh said Gandhi's words were true and that if the Central government has courage then it should do a surgical strike on the South-East Asian country.
While speaking to reporters here in a press briefing, Raut said that Rahul Gandhi’s claims that China has entered Pangong valley in Ladakh were true. “(Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi) recently attended the BRICS summit and greeted Xi Jinping. After that, comes the map of China. Rahul Gandhi’s claim is true that China has entered the Pangong valley in Ladakh. China tries to enter Arunachal. If you (Central government) have courage then do a surgical strike on China,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
The map released by China on August 28 shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map.
The map also incorporates China’s claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea. The map was released by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper.
Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had said in his conversation with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Modi highlighted India’s concerns on unresolved issues along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.
“The Prime Minister underlined that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalisation of the India-China relationship. In this regard, two leaders agreed to direct their relevant officials to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation,” Kwatra had said.
Earlier this month, during his visit to Ladakh, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Centre, saying that its claim that not an inch of Indian land was taken by China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) troops “is not true”. The Congress MP claimed the locals, too, contend that Indian territory was intruded upon and taken by the Chinese troops, adding that it was a matter of concern.
“The locals here are concerned about China taking our land. They have said that the Chinese troops took away their grazing land. However, the PM says not an inch of land was taken away. This is not true, you can ask anyone here,” Rahul said.
