On Thursday, the governments of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan joined the government of India in criticizing China’s new national map and accusing Beijing of depicting their territories as Chinese territory.
China unveiled a new version of its national map on Monday in response to what Beijing has previously referred to as “problematic maps” that it claims misrepresent its territorial boundaries.
India expressed its severe disapproval of China’s so-called “standard map” on Tuesday, stating that it claimed Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin area and only served to complicate efforts to settle the border issue.
The Ministry of External Affairs also refuted China’s claims, saying they had “no basis.”
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar responded to the Chinese move by saying: “Just making ridiculous claims does not make other people’s territories yours.”
According to the Philippine government’s critique of China’s so-called “standard map” from 2023, the West Philippine Sea still retains significant areas of Philippine land features.
The controversial map that was provided by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources on August 28 includes the nine-dash line, which is now a 10-dash line, that is supposed to represent China’s boundaries in the South China Sea.
“This latest attempt to legitimize China’s purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza stated in a statement.
According to Daza, the 2016 Arbitral Award previously ruled the nine-dashed line to be illegal. He also asked China to respect its UNCLOS obligations.
The award states that “maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the ‘nine-dash line’ are contrary to the Convention and without lawful effect to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China’s maritime entitlements under the Convention,” according to Daza, who was quoted by the official Philippine News Agency.
As a result, she said, “The Philippines has requested China to act responsibly and uphold its obligations under the UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award.”
Manila took issue with a Chinese national map that was issued in 2013 and featured the Spratly Islands and a section of the Kalayaan Island Group as “national boundaries”.
The Chinese government’s comments regarding the South China Sea in the “China Standard” prompted the Malaysian government to say on Thursday that it would send a letter of complaint to China. Foreign Minister Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir described the move as a follow-up step.
