India has Protested But Russia Hasn’t Beijing’s New Official Maps Showing Portions of Their Territories are Chinese

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 29 – For years, Russians and others have been alarmed by the appearance on Chinese sites of maps showing portions of their countries as lying within the borders of the Peoples Republic of China. Now, they have even more reason for anger: the Chinese government has officially confirmed these maps for use in schools and the media.

            But Russians are likely to be even more upset by the fact that Moscow, unlike New Delhi, against which China has advanced territorial claims in this way has not said anything publicly and officially, a pattern that Russians will view as unjustified deference especially given the Kremlin’s talk about defending every inch of “the Russian world.”

            The new maps, showing portions of territories in Russia and India as part of the Republic of China, are part of a set just released by Beijing’s Cartographic Service of Standard Maps (stoletie.ru/lenta/kitaj_utverdil_novyje_karty_strany_i_vkluchil_v_nih_territorii_rossii_869.htm and bzdt.ch.mnr.gov.cn/).