The Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources released a new edition of the standard map of China late last month, which includes Taiwan, the South China Sea islands and even disputed areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin between China and India.
“Maps, text, images and paintings can all describe national territory, but maps are the most common and intuitive form of expression of national territory,” said Li Yongchun (李永春), director of the ministry’s Department of Geographic Information Management. “A correct national map is a symbol of national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In response to Beijing’s aggressive move, countries such as India, Malaysia and the Philippines protested, with their foreign affairs ministries unanimously saying that they objected to the map of China, and that Beijing’s action was illegal.
“The map was different from a narrower version China submitted to the UN in 2009 of the South China Sea that included its so-called nine-dash line,” according to Reuters.
“The latest map was of a broader geographical area and had a line with 10 dashes that included democratically governed Taiwan,” Reuters reported.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) was asked during a news briefing about the protests against the new version of the map by countries such as India, Malaysia and the Philippines.
“We hope that relevant parties can view this in an objective and rational manner,” he said, adding that China was just exercising its sovereignty in accordance with the law, urging other countries not to interpret the map to an excessive extent.
In recent years, there have been numerous incidents of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) maritime police vessels confronting other countries’ ships in the South China Sea. Aggressive actions such as using lasers recklessly and obstructing others’ supplies have been frequently reported.
Meanwhile, China has been engaged in disputes with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam over its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Beijing has unilaterally declared China’s sovereignty over almost the entire maritime area. It is not surprising that such a claim is unacceptable to all its neighboring countries.
In this year’s edition of the standard map of China, the disputed areas in the South China Sea are included as Chinese territory, but those areas overlap with Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone, along the coasts of Borneo, Sabah and Sarawak. The CCP’s demarcation of others’ territories is extremely brutal indeed, and it shows absolutely no respect for neighboring countries and their people. Hopefully, the international community will unite in boycotting this vicious move by the CCP.
Nick Hu is a graduate student.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Public health is one of Taiwan’s greatest strengths. Its National Health Insurance was already one of the best single-payer systems in the world, ensuring that everyone has coverage while staying nimble in the face of financial challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic was a chance for the world to see Taiwan’s full public health apparatus at work. Officials caught wind of a strange virus circulating in China and jumped to screen and then stem the flow of travelers before the word “coronavirus” even made headlines. It was one of the only countries in the world to escape widespread transmission before vaccines were distributed,
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Oct. 12 announced that it would consider adopting further measures in response to Taiwan’s trade barriers on certain goods from China, based on the findings of an investigation it launched late last year. The measures could include tariffs or other forms of economic pressure. The announcement is yet another political move by Beijing that is more declarative than substantive. The timing was not coincidental, as it came shortly after President William Lai (賴清德) delivered his first Double Ten National Day speech after taking office on May 20, which was moderate on the cross-strait relationship,
On Monday morning last week, many Chinese investors woke up anticipating a raft of new stimulus measures to save the Chinese economy during an official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) news conference. Instead, by about 5am the CCP had launched military exercises surrounding Taiwan. State media announced that China would “completely reunify” Taiwan with its “ancestral homeland.” The refurbished Liaoning aircraft carrier, which had only days prior returned to its home berth at Yuchi Naval Base in China’s Shandong Province, was rushed back out to sea to traverse the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan and the Philippines to take its position for the exercises. The
China’s “Joint Sword-2024B” military exercises around Taiwan last week have sparked concerns in Taipei and allied capitals that Beijing’s risk tolerance is increasing, and rather than prioritizing efforts toward “peaceful unification,” it is ramping up efforts to bring about unification by force, whether that be a military quarantine, blockade or full-scale invasion. Catherine Lila Chou (周怡齡) and Mark Harrison are right in their recent book Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order that the nature of Beijing’s one-party political system, in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is always right, means Taiwanese identity is explained away as being the