China`s mapping service shows Arunachal, Aksai Chin as its own

K J M Varma
Beijing, Jan 18 (PTI) China officially launched its
state-run mapping website on Tuesday, that rivals Google
Earth, showing Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin in Jammu and
Kashmir -- two key areas of dispute with India -- as part of
its territory.
The map called 'Map World' displayed on the Internet
in Chinese language is already being used in I phone and other
mobile and Internet user applications in China.
It shows Arunachal Pradesh that China has always
claimed as "southern Tibet" as part of its territory. The map
makes no specific mention of southern Tibet but its shows
China's borders covered up to Arunachal Pradesh.
Also, the Aksai Chin area, which India asserts as part
of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir has been included by the map as
part of China's Xinjiang province.
Both areas are part of the border dispute being
negotiated between the two countries, which so far have held
14 rounds of talks.
The map, however, displays the Line of Control (LOC)
in Kashmir region acknowledging the both sides of the areas
respectively under the control of India and Pakistan.
The unresolved border issue has been a simmering issue
in Sino-India relations for a long time.
The issue of Arunachal was in the news again this
month after two residents of the state were issued stapled
visas by China, a development which observers said could be an
indication of a change in Beijing's policy. China had earlier
refused to offer visas to the residents of the state.
However, China reiterated on Monday that its policy
that Arunachal Pradesh is a "disputed area" remains
"unchanged".
The online mapping service called MAP WORLD is meant
to offer an "authoritative, credible and unified" online
mapping service, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Announcing the launch of the map State Bureau of
Surveying and Mapping (SBSM), vice director, Min Yiren, told
the media that global geographic data can be accessed through
the website and the data on China was "particularly detailed,"
covering towns and villages in China's extensive rural areas.
Search engine Google entered into a confrontation with
the Chinese government over issues of censorship and hacking
and also closed down its operations in the mainland for a
brief period.
China then launched a blistering attack on Google and
quietly began work on its own search engine. China is the
biggest Internet market with more than 400 million users.
MAP WORLD has 11 million place names in it. Among them
are some 120,000 points of interests including hotels,
restaurants, retail businesses, government institutions, banks
and roads. (MORE) PTI