Why China keeps showing Arunachal, Ladakh in its map now and then?
On 25 March 2019, China destroyed some 30,000 “wrong maps” of history that it said depicted China’s borders “incorrectly.” As many as 804 boxes containing 28,908 maps, to be precise, were destroyed in Qingdao in Shandong province as they did not show Taiwan and Arunachal Pradesh as part of China.
Later in December, its officials burnt a pile of books outside a library in Zhenyuan county in Gansu province in north-west China as they were deemed “unlawful” and contained articles full of “bias” against China. As its video got viral, it sparked a global outrage among scholars of history. Beijing hastened to announce that officials seen in clip have been punished.
But the fact is, they were punished not for burning the books but getting the video out. Many scholars and governments worldwide believe China is actually destroying the historical records and old maps that show China was a much smaller country before annexing the neighbouring territories such as Tibet, East Turkmenistan with force or deceit.
A cursory look at the map above shows if one takes Tibet, Turkestan (now Xinjiang), South Mongolia, Yunnan and Manchuria out, the real China is reduced to just one third in size and even smaller than India.
Why it is burning maps and books? Because while making claim that territory from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh is part of China, it does not want anyone to challenge it on the basis of authentic, original records available in libraries.
Such original records were used as evidence against China in the Hague court.
On July 12, 2016, the Hague court adjudicating the Philippines’ case against China in the South China Sea overwhelmingly ruled in favour of the Philippines, determining that major elements of China’s claim—including its nine-dash line, recent land reclamation activities, and other activities in Philippine waters—were unlawful.
So best way to deprive future challenger of evidence is to destroy all those books and maps that show China never owned these territories. And keep repeating the propaganda, the lie that Ladakh, Arunachal are part of China thousand times in hope it will become truth some day.
There is another reason why China is very particular about Arunachal Pradesh, especially Tawang. Tawang is the birthplace of Dalai Lama. Its annexation to Tibet under its occupation will give it a powerful leverage in controlling spiritual affairs of Tibetan people.
There is no country on China’s border with which it has had no border dispute. From Russia, Japan Taiwan, India, to littoral countries in South China Sea such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines, China has kept the disputes ignited. It is also building bases near disputed territories to use military to annex places when the time is right.
China is aping the US in global power projection by setting up military bases all around the world. But only place it has succeeded in setting base is Djibouti in North Africa. Other is tiny Cook Island in the far off Pacific Ocean.
But unlike America, it is obsessed with expansionism by peddling once-upon-a-time out an out ownership lies of history by burning books, destroying original map. One glaring example is of Tibet, where China claims that Tibetans are all Chinese actually. Most people are led to believe that Tibetan language is a variant of Chinese language.
No. Chinese language is pictographic, whereas Tibetan script is Sanskritic, drawn from Sanskrit, just as Ladakhi. The reason why Tibetan will never be Chinese. But it is still pushing Chinese language down Tibetan school-children’s throat, but with a little success.
Today there is no place on planet where Chinese have not set foot upon and have not claimed the ownership.
When China sets foot on the moon in 2030, the moon will be next.
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