Sanjay Raut supports Rahul Gandhi's claims after China's new map includes Arunachal and Aksai Chin

File Photo/PTI

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has lent his support to Rahul Gandhi's assertions following China's release of a revised map that incorporates Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region as part of Chinese territory. Raut emphasized that if the Central government possesses the necessary resolve, it should consider a surgical strike against China in response.

Raut's remarks come in the wake of Rahul Gandhi's claims about Chinese incursions into Ladakh's Pangong valley.

While speaking to reporters here in a press briefing, Raut said that Rahul Gandhi's claims that China has entered Pangong valley in Ladakh were true.

"(Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi) recently attended the BRICS summit and greeted Xi Jinping. After that, comes the map of China. Rahul Gandhi's claim is true that China has entered the Pangong valley in Ladakh. China tries to enter Arunachal. If you (Central government) have courage then do a surgical strike on China," the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.

The map released by China on August 28 shows Arunachal Pradesh which China claims as South Tibet and Aksai Chin occupied by it in the 1962 war as part of its territory. Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea are also included within the Chinese territory in the new map.

The map also incorporates China's claims over the nine-dash line thus laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea.

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The map was released by China's Ministry of Natural Resources during the celebration of Surveying and Mapping Publicity Day and the National Mapping Awareness Publicity Week on Monday in Deqing county, Zhejiang province, as per China Daily newspaper.

Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Earlier this month, during his visit to Ladakh, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Centre, saying that its claim that not an inch of Indian land was taken by China's People Liberation Army (PLA) troops "is not true".

The Congress MP claimed the locals, too, contend that Indian territory was intruded upon and taken by the Chinese troops, adding that it was a matter of concern.

"The locals here are concerned about China taking our land. They have said that the Chinese troops took away their grazing land. However, the PM says not an inch of land was taken away. This is not true, you can ask anyone here," Rahul had said. (Agencies)