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CGTN Television, a state-owned Chinese news channel, has depicted Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as part of India for the first time, according to The Times of India. The channel used the map while showing the November 23 attack on Chinese consulate in Karachi.
The CGTN has fixed templates for maps and staff cannot make changes themselves. So the decision to use a different map to report on the consulate attack must have come from higher authorities, according to the TOI report.
The map assumes significance as it comes couple of weeks ahead of the joint drill to be conducted by India and China’s militaries on December 10.
The move could also have implications for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). India has protested against the project of CPEC, saying that the corridor violates India’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, there has been no major violation of airspace by China along the Line of Actual Control in recent times. “We have confidence building measures (CBM) on both sides. Our fighter aircraft don’t come less than 10 or 12 kilometres from the perceived Line of Actual Control. The CBMs are being maintained and both sides did not violate each other’s airspace,” Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa told media on Thursday.
“On both sides, even during the Doklam crisis and subsequent huge exercise Gagan Shakti there was no violation of peacetime profile. Earlier, I told the Chinese counterpart that we should meet more on the ground rather than in air,” he added.
