"Habitual offender": Mallikarjun Kharge on China including Arunachal in its "standard map"

Kharge expressed hope that the upcoming G-20 summit in India will be another opportunity for us to expose the issue of China’s transgressions into Indian territory on the global stage.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said that China is a "habitual offender" when it comes to renaming and redrawing maps of territories belonging to other countries. The Congress chief stated that the Indian territories including Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin are an indistinguishable and inalienable part of India. "No arbitrarily invented Chinese map can change that".

His reaction came hours after China officially released the 2023 edition of its "standard map," which shows the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of its territory. He tweeted: "China is a habitual offender when it comes to renaming and redrawing maps of territories, belonging to other countries. The Indian National Congress takes strong objection to any such illegal representation or renaming of India's territories. We want a peaceful coexistence with our neighbours, including China and want peace and tranquillity at the LAC".

"It is, however, painful to note that China's deception and belligerence continue, post Galwan, in the wake of PM Modi giving them a free pass, by saying "no one entered our territory" after 20 of our brave soldiers were martyred". The status quo ante before May 2020 should be of utmost importance, and the Modi government must not budge from anything less than the restoration of the same, he said.

Kharge expressed hope that the upcoming G-20 summit in India will be another opportunity for us to expose the issue of China's transgressions into Indian territory on the global stage. "Modi Govt must ensure that the illegal Chinese occupation of 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory along the LAC must end," he said in another tweet.

The map released 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 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. (ANI)

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