Governments within the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan on Thursday joined India in rejecting China’s new nationwide map, issuing strongly worded statements accusing Beijing of claiming their territory.
China revealed a brand new model of its nationwide map on Monday to appropriate what Beijing has up to now known as “problematic maps” that it claims misrepresent its territorial borders.
India on Tuesday lodged a powerful protest with China over its so-called “standard map” laying declare over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps solely complicate the decision of the boundary query.
The External Affairs Ministry additionally rejected China’s claims as having “no basis”.
“Just making absurd claims does not make other people’s territories yours,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar mentioned whereas reacting to the Chinese transfer.
The Philippine authorities on Thursday slammed China’s 2023 version of its so-called “standard map” that also reveals swaths of Philippine options within the West Philippine Sea.
The Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources issued on August 28 a controversial map that features the nine-dash line, now a 10-dash line, that supposedly reveals China’s boundaries within the South China Sea.
“This latest attempt to legitimise 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 said in a statement.
Daza said the 2016 Arbitral Award has already invalidated the nine-dashed line and called on China to abide by its obligations under UNCLOS.
“(The award) categorically said that ‘maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the ‘nine-dash line’ are opposite to the Convention and with out lawful impact to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China’s maritime entitlements below the Convention,” Daza was quoted as saying by the official Philippine News Agency.
“The Philippines, therefore, calls on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” she added.
Manila had already protested the publication of a Chinese nationwide map in 2013, which additionally positioned components of the Kalayaan Island Group or Spratlys inside Beijing’s “national boundaries”.
The Malaysian authorities mentioned on Thursday that it’ll ship a protest word to China over the latter’s claims on the South China Sea as outlined within the ‘China Standard
Map Edition 2023’, which additionally covers Malaysia’s maritime areas.
Foreign Minister Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir mentioned the transfer was a follow-up step
taken by the federal government over the matter.
“This has been our practice (when dealing with issues like this)… and based on the statement issued by Wisma Putra yesterday, the next step includes sending a protest note,” he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama information company.
The Malaysian Foreign Ministry mentioned on Wednesday that Malaysia doesn’t recognise China’s claims within the South China Sea, as outlined within the “China Standard Map Edition 2023,” which also encompasses Malaysia’s maritime areas.
The map holds no binding authority over Malaysia, it said in a statement.
The Vietnamese government also criticised China’s latest provocation.
Vietnam strongly reiterates its consistent stance on the sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly), and resolutely rejects any maritime claims of China that are based on the “nine-dash line” in the East Sea, spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said on Thursday.
Hang made the statement while answering reporters’ questions regarding Vietnam’s response to China’s release of the so-called “standard map 2023” which covers Vietnam’s Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.
The issuance of the map as well as China’s “nine-dash line” claim show a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, as well as Vietnam’s sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its waters as stipulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), she stressed.
Therefore, the sovereignty and maritime claims based on the “nine-dash line” as reflected in the map are void and violate international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS, the spokeswoman said.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday rebuked China’s new “normal map” by saying Taiwan has never been ruled by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Foreign ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu told Taiwan News that “Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign and unbiased nation that’s not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China. The People’s Republic of China has by no means dominated Taiwan. These are universally recognised information and the established order within the worldwide group.”
Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry indicated it was not budging on the map issue.
“China’s place on the South China Sea is constant and clear. The competent authorities of China routinely publish normal maps of assorted varieties yearly, which goals to make normal maps obtainable to all sectors of society and lift public consciousness of the standardised use of maps.
“We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin mentioned in response to a query on Thursday when sought his touch upon the protests from international locations like India, Malaysia in addition to the Philippines towards this new Chinese map.
Edited By:
Sudeep Lavania
Published On:
Aug 31, 2023
