GUWAHATI
A Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise the issue of the “Chinese cartographic aggression” with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the upcoming G-20 summit in New Delhi.
In a letter to the Prime Minister on August 29, Ninong Ering expressed “deep anguish and concern” over the release of the “so-called 2023 edition of China’s standard map” claiming the Indian territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin.
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources released the map through an official mouthpiece, claiming that the “map is compiled based on the drawing method of national boundaries of China and various countries in the world”.
“This unforeseen, unfortunate yet deliberate incident on the part of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) has invoked deep resentment among the people of Arunachal Pradesh. It is in common knowledge that the PRC has earlier, too, tried to assert its claim over Arunachal Pradesh by renaming 11 locations in April 2023, 15 locations in 2021, and 6 places in 2017,” Mr. Ering, representing the Pasighat West constituency, wrote.
“This recent release of the ‘PRC standard map’ is hence a culmination of the PRC’s nefarious plans and a matter especially significant since Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India, and has scarred memories of the 1962 Sino-Indian war,” he wrote.
Mr. Ering reminded the Prime Minister of the 20 Indian soldiers who were killed while defending India’s frontiers against the (Chinese) People’s Liberation Army in the Galwan Valley in 2020. He also referred to the assertions by Mr. Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah that the Centre was committed to ensuring that not a single inch of India’s soil is compromised while referring to a stand-off between the soldiers of the two countries in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Congress MLA said he would like Mr. Modi to treat Beijing’s cartographic aggression as an attack on India’s sovereignty and integrity. “I appeal to you to discuss this matter of the PRC unilaterally making changes on its map with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the upcoming G20 Summit,” he said.
He also said that the Chinese standardisation of India’s map should be condemned at a global level and silence on the issue would be considered as the country’s “tacit approval” of the Chinese claims.
