Move comes as V-P Ansari is on visit to Beijing; India reacts: ‘Cartographic depiction’ does not change reality
In the latest irritant, the Chinese Government has shown Arunachal Pradesh as part of its territory in a new map released recently prompting a strong reaction from New Delhi, which said that “cartographic depiction” does not change the reality on the ground and that the North-Eastern State is an integral part of India.
Incidentally, Beijing’s move has come at a time when Vice-President Hamid Ansari is on a five-day visit to China on an invitation to commemorate 60 years of Panchsheel.
It also comes close on the heels of reports that Chinese troops intruded in the Pangong lake in ladakh while two of its helicopters violated airspace in Joshimath (Uttarakhand), close to Badrinath shrine.
China has always staked claim to parts of Arunachal and this new map shows majority of the State as part of Southern Tibet.
Besides Arunachal, China has also shown South China Sea as its own in the new map.
“The cartographic depictions do not change the reality on the ground. The fact that Arunachal Pradesh is integral and inalienable part of India has been conveyed to Chinese authority at several occasions, including at the very highest level,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin on Saturday.
The Ansari-led delegation will take up this matter when they sit for bilateral talks with China. “It is our normal practice to raise all issues of bilateral concerns,” Akbaruddin said.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that not much should be read into the new map. “The goal is to serve the Chinese public. As for the intentions, I think there is no need to make too much of any association here,” she said.
In Beijing, Ansari called for India and China to narrow down differences and build on convergences by exploiting the potential of Panchsheel, the five principles of peaceful coexistence. He called for revitalising friendly relations and to promote cooperation as the only way forward towards the realisation of common goals of progress and prosperity for people.
The Indian delegation plans to take up all “perennial issues” including that of land boundary dispute between India and China during the talks. India and China have a 3,448 km long line of Actual Control (lAC), which remains disputed. Akbaruddin said that New Delhi was confident that the soldiers on the borders are capable of handling any situation there.