China has a history of including the neighbouring country’s territories in its official map. One such incident happened again on August 28 when the country released another official map, which portrays Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea regions as a part of China. This move of revealing a new official map has raised diplomatic problems and ignited existing conflicts. The 2023 edition of China’s official map was presented on the standard map service website by the Ministry of Natural Resources of China. 

The map utilizes a strategy involving national borders to represent China’s viewpoint on world geography, potentially lighting up issues with neighbouring countries. Clarifying the Map, the state-run Global Times tweeted “This map is compiled based on the drawing technique of national borders of China and different nations of the world.” The Chinese government declares Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet and Aksai Chin as part of their territory via their map.  The map also contains China’s claims over the disputed island of Taiwan as a part of a vowed objective of the Chinese president. The nations of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan have counterclaims over the regions in the South China Sea. The map also reiterates Beijing’s assertions on Taiwan by positioning a “tenth dash” on the east of the island.

 After China announced that they would “standardize” the names of 11 locations in Arunachal Pradesh including a town near the state’s capital Itanagar, they released the new map. The main concern for India is the inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin on the map, both regions that have long been subject to conflicting assertions between China and India. Arunachal Pradesh, despite China’s assertions of it as South Tibet, has remained a crucial part of India. India has always restated this standpoint. India has constantly said that the state of Arunachal Pradesh has “always been” and will “always be” an essential part of the country. 

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