Chinese leader Xi Jinping is likely to skip the G20 Summit to be held in New Delhi, Premier Li Qiang may attend instead. The Ministry of External Affairs protests China’s new map, which includes Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacts to a visit by India’s former service chiefs to Taipei. The UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visits China to mend ties, but many aren’t pleased. Chinascope looks at Beijing’s cartographic ambitions – and much more.
China over the week
A map released by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources was at the centre of the controversy this past week. The map created a storm in a teacup after Indian media noticed tweets by the handle of Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) English-Chinese newspaper Global Times. But the media missed the broader context under which the map is released annually.
Many commentators suggested that the map was published just before Xi’s India visit to signal China’s intentions to emphasise its territorial claims. But that’s far from accurate.
China releases the so-called ‘standard map’ every year in August. It is an exercise that China has conducted since 2006.
However, the media storm around the map got multiple countries to respond to the territorial claims suggested on the map. New Delhi launched a strong protest, saying, “We reject these claims as they have no basis.”
Meanwhile, the Chinese foreign ministry called the map “routine practice in China’s exercise of sovereignty in accordance with the law”.
The Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia also pushed back against the map.
Neither are these claims new nor is China’s practice of issuing maps but it’s the new public opinion environment in which negative views about Beijing are at an all time high all over the world. Even an old exercise is now closely scrutinised in the current context.
In 2020, a map used by Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency for a news story about China and India started a controversy on Chinese social media.
Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar rightly picked up on the trend when he said the map issuing isn’t new. It appears that New Delhi made it a central issue because the clouds hover over Xi’s visit.
The media storm was well-timed for several reasons. But there is no doubt that Beijing’s expansionist claims remain indigestible for many countries – including India – making any resolution to the border dispute unlikely.
As Xi may have decided to skip the G20 Summit, New Delhi has few reasons to play diplomatic to Beijing’s every curveball.
“Only by continuously increasing the effective supply of standard maps can we better meet the public’s needs and curb ‘problem maps’” said an expert about the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The controversy shows that Beijing’s internal projection can no longer get it off the hook in a problematic geopolitical environment. More countries are taking Xi’s regional security agenda seriously.
India’s three former service chiefs were in Taiwan in August for various engagements, including the Ketagalan Forum—2023 Indo-Pacific dialogue. The visit generated much speculation in India and elsewhere but the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs largely remained silent. Then, a journalist from Pakistan asked the ministry’s spokesperson about the visit.
“We hope the country concerned will abide by the one-China principle, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, and refrain from having any form of military and security cooperation with Taiwan,” said Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin on the visit by three chiefs.
The use of ‘country concerned’ instead of directly referring to India is a long-term approach by Beijing to keep a power differential vis-à-vis New Delhi and to disabuse the country’s leadership from playing a more active role in the region.
The author told you in the past edition of the Chinascope newsletter that the visit was far from ‘personal’ as some sources portrayed it.
Xi may skip the G20 Summit set to begin later in the week, according to multiple sources that have spoken to Financial Times, Reuters, ThePrint, Times of India and others.
Sources in India have said the Chinese side submitted a flight plan, which shows a diplomatic plane arriving in New Delhi from Jakarta instead of Beijing. Jakarta will soon host the ASEAN Summit, which will be attended by Li, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed.
The ministry has yet to confirm if Li Qiang will attend the summit in Xi’s place. If Xi ends up skipping, it would be the first summit meeting he has skipped since 2013.
The decision to send Li has another implication besides that he is the Premier. He is one of the weakest Premiers and ‘Number-twos’ in Chinese elite politics in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Xi’s chief of staff, Cai Qi, who accompanied him to BRICS in Johannesburg, has emerged as a close confidant who has somewhat become more powerful than number-two Li. Both of them could find themselves trying to stay on the right side of Xi’s agenda as the future power struggle will shape in post-Xi China.
Cai simultaneously serves as number five in the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, in charge of CCP’s Central Secretariat and Xi’s chief of staff. Serving a dual role as Politburo Standing Committee member and Xi’s chief of staff is unusual, according to an analysis by political scientist Guoguang Wu. In the past, only Wang Dongxing – former president of People’s Republic of China Mao Zedong’s long-time bodyguard – has played a similar role between 1977-78.
Regardless, if Li attends the G20 instead of Xi, his message would be worth reading closely as the grouping has struggled on multiple issues, including Ukraine.
Also read: China has achieved 2 goals ahead of G20—expand BRICS & convince India that all is ‘normal’
China in world news
The United Kingdom’s foreign secretary James Cleverly finally made it to Beijing after several delays. But his trip saw pushback at home as views on China among his political peers in London make such a visit contentious.
“It’s an important country, it’s a large country, an influential country, and a complicated country,” Cleverly said in Beijing.
Cleverly met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing.
He raised the issue of human rights and other crucial matters of their bilateral relationship.
A Conservative member of the UK parliament said it was unclear what was gained from the trip.
“We should be robust towards China, but this looks the opposite,” said the MP on condition of anonymity.
The UK has expanded scrutiny of Chinese investment in domestic companies and China’s engagement with UK universities, but some UK experts believe the government isn’t doing enough.
Also read: UK foreign minister in China to ‘manage’ relations, raise human rights issues
Must read this week
National Security after China’s 20th Party Congress: Trends in Discourse and Policy- Sheena Chestnut Greitens
The author is a columnist and a freelance journalist. He was previously a China media journalist at the BBC World Service. He is currently a MOFA Taiwan Fellow based in Taipei and tweets @aadilbrar. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)