New UN map depicts Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as territories caught between “Indian line” and “Chinese line” - The Hindu

**New UN World Map Shows Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin Caught Between “Indian Line” and “Chinese Line”**

A revised United Nations world map released on the UN’s geospatial portal this week depicts the Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh and the high‑altitude plateau of Aksai Chin with two overlapping boundary notations – a solid line labelled “Indian line” and a parallel line marked “Chinese line.” The cartographic overlay is intended to illustrate competing sovereign claims rather than to endorse any particular border, a clarification that the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) reiterated in a brief statement. The map, which is part of a series of thematic visualisations for the UN’s “Geospatial Information for Development” initiative, places Arunachal Pradesh within India’s internationally recognised borders but also adds a dashed line that follows the line of actual control (LoC) asserted by Beijing, while Aksai Chin – a sparsely populated region administered by China but claimed by India as part of Ladakh – is shown with a similar dual‑line representation.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs lodged a formal protest on Tuesday, describing the depiction as “inaccurate and misleading.” The ministry’s spokesperson said the United Nations should refrain from publishing maps that conflate internationally recognised boundaries with disputed claim lines, noting that the Indian government’s official position treats Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of the Republic of India and regards Aksai Chin as Indian territory occupied by China since the 1962 war. New Delhi has asked the UN to withdraw the map or, at a minimum, add a disclaimer that the lines are “non‑official” and do not reflect the legal status of the territories. The Indian response arrives amid a broader diplomatic push by New Delhi to counter what it perceives as a growing international narrative that normalises China’s territorial assertions.

Beijing, for its part, did not issue an immediate comment, but a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry later affirmed that China’s “consistent position on its core interests” remains unchanged and welcomed any map that “accurately reflects the facts on the ground.” The United Nations, while acknowledging India’s concerns, emphasized that the map is a neutral visual tool used for data analysis and does not constitute a statement on sovereignty. The episode also resurfaced a separate grievance raised by India earlier this month after an AI‑generated image on the Anthropic platform displayed the same dual‑line depiction without proper attribution, prompting the Indian government to seek correction from the technology firm. The incident underscores the sensitivities surrounding cartographic representations of contested borders in the digital age.