The Philippines and other countries should not “over-read” the new Chinese map including disputed territories off the South China Sea, a Chinese official said.
“China’s publishing houses in some regions published various kinds of Chinese maps with the purpose of serving the public, and there is no need to over-read it,” the Chinese official said.
Hua added that the Chinese government’s position on the South China Sea has always been “consistent, clear and free of any change.”
Older versions of the Chinese map featured nine dashes to signify the rising superpower’s claim over the South China Sea. In the new map, the tenth dash was placed near Taiwan, apparently to mark it as a Chinese province.
Territorial dispute
For the past years, China and the Philippines have been engaged in a territorial dispute over resource-rich parts of the South China Sea. The Philippines refest to parts of the South China Sea as West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines claims that the West Philippine Sea is part of its exclusive economic zone under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
China, meanwhile, is asserting its historical claim over the area through the so-called “nine-dash line.”
The Philippines has already brought its territorial dispute with China before the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration. Beijing, however, has rejected the arbitration proceedings, repeatedly insisting on bilateral talks to settle to issue. — RSJ, GMA News
