The deputy spokesperson for United States Department of State, Vedant Patelhas rejected this Tuesday the map published by China in which they appear as their own territories of other countries in the sea of South China and India.
“China’s recently released national map has sparked a wave of protests from countries rejecting the territorial and maritime claims depicted on it (…) we reject the illegal maritime claims reflected on that map and call on China to transfer its maritime claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere International Law of the Sea”, Patel declared during a press conference.
“A unanimous tribunal in arbitration between Philippines and China determined that China’s extensive and illegal maritime claims in the South China Sea were inconsistent with international law under the convention’s dispute settlement provisions,” the spokesperson added.
Since the publication of the map at the end of August, the authorities of various countries such as India, Malaysia or Philippines They have expressed their rejection and condemnation.
The maps show as Chinese territory areas that are also claimed by countries such as India, Vietnam, Brunei or Malaysia, as well as the Philippineswith which China has had a series of territorial disputes for decades.
These disputes involve several islands located in the South China Sea. Significant hydrocarbon reserves were discovered on the continental shelf of these islands, especially on the islands Xisha (the Paracel Islands), Nansha (the Spratly Islands) and Huangyan (Scarborough Reef).
The Indian Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankardescribed as “absurd” the publication by China of a map of its borders in which it annexed several territories, in dispute between the two countries, as its own.
“China has published such maps in the past in which it claimed territories that did not belong to it. Posting a map means nothing”, said the Indian minister during a forum organized by the Indian channel NDTV.
“We are very clear about our territories. Making absurd claims does not make the territories of other peoples yours”, he added.
The minister’s comment comes a day after China officially published the updated version of the country’s map and used it on regime websites such as the Ministry of Natural Resourcesreported yesterday on the social network X (formerly Twitter) the official Chinese newspaper Global Times.
This map included the Indian-administered territory of Arunachal Pradeshin the northeast of the country, as part of China.
The sovereignty of Arunachal Pradesh has been claimed by India and China since practically the creation of the Indian state in 1947, while both countries maintain a historic dispute over other Himalayan regionsAs the Aksai Chin administered by Beijing and claimed by India.
Bilateral relations between the world’s two most populous countries are at one of their lowest points in decades, despite normalcy-seeking comments from both sides and numerous rounds of military talks to de-escalate tension throughout the border.
In this regard, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modiand the president of China, Xi Jinpingagreed last week to intensify negotiations to accelerate the withdrawal and de-escalation of tension in the area during a conversation on the margins of the XV Summit of Heads of State and Government of the BRICS in South Africa.
Bilateral relations were seriously deteriorated after a border clash in the valley of galwan in June 2020, at the western himalayasthe worst in 45 years among the nuclear powers, in which at least 20 Indian soldiers died and 76 were wounded, while Beijing acknowledged four dead and one seriously injured.
The last of these clashes on the border occurred last April, when China unilaterally renamed eleven places in the Arunachal Pradesh region.
(With information from Europa Press and EFE)
Source-www.infobae.com