China tells India to ‘stay calm’, ‘stop over-interpreting’ in map row

NEW DELHI: China has told India to "stay calm" over a new Chinese map that Delhi says lays claim to its territory, according to a media report. India protested after Beijing released a map showing Arunachal Pradesh and the disputed Aksai Chin region as China's territory, the BBC reported.

Beijing responded by saying its neighbours should refrain from "over-interpreting" the issue, the report said.

Meanwhile, media reports say Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip next week's G20 summit in Delhi. Reports suggest that Premier Li Quang will attend instead.

Xi had earlier confirmed he would travel to Delhi for the meeting on September 9-10, but China's Foreign Ministry would not confirm his attendance when asked to do so at a regular press briefing on Thursday.

The escalation over the 2023 edition of China's standard national map comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi spoke on the sidelines of the Brics summit in South Africa, the BBC reported.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called China's claim "absurd".

An Indian official said afterwards that the two countries had agreed to "intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation" along the disputed border.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has called on relevant parties to stay objective and refrain from overinterpreting China's new 2023 standard national map after the Indian side lodged a "strong protest" over boundary demarcations, Global Times reported.

China's Ministry of Natural Resources released the 2023 edition of the standard national map on Monday, which caused dissatisfaction in India due to boundary disputes.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a routine press briefing on Wednesday that releasing the new standard national map "is a routine practice in China's exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law".

"We hope relevant sides can stay objective and calm and refrain from over-interpreting the issue," the spokesperson noted, Global Times reported. (IANS)

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