Chinese social media users fume over Indian magazine’s omission of Tibet and Taiwan from ‘map’
India Today cover sparked a patriotic backlash among China’s online users, increasing the tensions amid the countries’ protracted border standoff
Chinese social media users were angered by an Indian magazine cover showing a map of China without Tibet or Taiwan, heightening the tension between the regional powers amid a protracted border dispute.
The revised map of China on the cover of the July 31 issue of India Today sparked patriotic backlash from China’s online users, many of whom used strong language to denounce both the magazine and India as a whole.
To illustrate its cover story, “China’s New Chick”, about growing Chinese investments in Pakistan and the resulting concern for India, the magazine used a map of China shaped as a large chicken and Pakistan as a smaller chick.
Each map had the respective country’s flag on it.
But Chinese netizens griped over the exclusion of Taiwan and Tibet from China’s map. The Chinese government claims sovereignty over both places, considering Taiwan a renegade province and Tibet an autonomous region, but there are long-standing political tensions over the government’s control of these areas.