The 2023 edition of the standard map of China, released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is neither the first attempt to document illegally its unilateral claim on sovereign territories of other countries, nor the last one. It has been published by design to documentarily justify its illegal claims by launching a cartographic offensive. This forms part of its “legal warfare” as a component of its “Three-Warfare Strategy’ as an attempt to produce legal justification of its illegal claims.

The 2023 edition of the standard map of China released on 28 August 2023 illegally shows Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin (which is an integral part of India) in Chinese territory, besides showing South China Sea and Taiwan too as Chinese territory. India has already launched diplomatic protestsas have the otherclaimants of the South China Sea. The other part of this cartographic aggression is giving Chinese names to places in other countries, where the PRC extends its illegal claims. Although it is quite certain that such an act, in isolation, does not change anything on ground, but the intention, timing and strategy behind such repeated acts is worth analysing.

The map was released ten days prior to the G20 Summit. China anticipates that many countries in the G20 intend to criticise the aggression and encroachments by large countries—be it the Russian kinetic operation in Ukraine or China’s incremental encroachment in South China Sea, East China Sea or in Taiwanese air and maritime space. The illegal maps released by China so far (including the current one) are meant to build the background for a “legal war “by claiming that all its activities are defensive in nature and are meant to protect its sovereign territory. This would be China’s stance in G20 or any possible bilateral between China and India, if it happens.

It is also an attempt to put the opposite side on the defensive on the negotiating table by adopting a maximalist position right at the beginning. The conversation between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during BRICS Summit 2023, as reported by the Chinese media, stated “agreed to maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiations through military and diplomatic channels”, indicating no commitment of disengagement. The map release therefore is a smart move to score a point to derail the negotiations or disengagement. A subtle attempt to divert attention of the Chinese people from the economic downslide by such gimmicks can’t be ruled out.

The example of legal warfare is part of the “Chinese Strategy of Three-Warfare”.China introduced this strategy comprising the concepts of public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare, when it revised the “Political Work Guidelines of the People’s Liberation Army” in 2003. The Three-Warfare Strategy’s objective is to win by suppressing the enemy’s desire to fight, or, in Sun Tzu’s words, “winning without fighting”.Through deceit, diplomatic pressure, information operations involving rumours, false narratives, and harassment, it is intended to influence the decision-making of the adversary. Illegal maps like the one issued now are part of PRC’s psychological warfare and propaganda that are frequently employed to weaken the resolve of the enemy and secure the support of the home population to wage a protracted war.

Notwithstanding the optics of the “Modi-Xi Conversation” at BRICS 2023, this illegal map further increases the trust deficit between the two countries, so no change in ground position is anticipated. The political intention of China is to continue with the standoff, maintain a façade of talking with no results, hoping that the existing positions become the new normal with the passage of time, even if India continues to say “India-China relations cannot be normal unless the border situation is”.

India on the other hand has learnt not to believe China and will continue to firmly defend its position on the borders and its territorial integrity. Both sides will have to bear the burden of additional deployment until India can generate some more leverages in a multi-dimensional powerplay along with other strategic partners. Unless the political cost of not resolving border tension becomes more than resolving it, for China, the possibility of normal relations is remote.