The maps being exported as ‘bed covers’ were seized at Shanghai Pudong international airport during a routine check

Chinese customs recently seized a large consignment of locally manufactured world maps, which showed Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh as part of India.

China claims the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet and occupies the India-claimed Aksai Chin region, mostly as part of the southwest Hotan county of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The consignment, worth some $600, was confiscated during a check by the customs department at the Shanghai Pudong international airport.

At least 300 packages to be exported as “bed covers” were pulled out of the express channel for closer inspection during the check-up, a report on the website, ThePaper.com said.

It was found that the maps on the “bed covers” showed Arunachal and Aksai Chin as Indian territories as Indian maps show.

The goods were immediately seized as they violated legal provisions regulating how Chinese maps should be drawn, the report said.

The regulations are stipulated under China’s State Council, or cabinet’s “Regulations on the Management of Map Drawing and Publication”.

The regulations say Chinese maps should not show content that endangers national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

The brief article did not mention the identity of the manufacturer or where the maps were to be exported. The consignment of cloth material is likely to be destroyed and the manufacturing company is expected to be heavily fined and censured.

Commenting on the report, angry Chinese netizens demanded that the company should be shut down immediately and called on the authorities to punish the owner.

In March, 2019, nearly 30,000 world maps showing Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India and Taiwan as a separate country were destroyed by customs authorities in the city of Qingdao in the eastern province of Shandong.