Roland San Juan: China’s New World Map Claims Hawaii And Most of Micronesia

Monday, July 25, 2016

China’s New World Map Claims Hawaii And Most of Micronesia

The tension between China and its neighboring countries has risen further, according to a new report stating that the country is claiming territories in the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii and Micronesia.
Xinhua News reported that China’s Education Ministry has issued an order for all government offices and education facilities to use the new world map, which indicates that the aforementioned islands in the Pacific are part of China.
Manny Mori, Micronesian President, has already said his thoughts, calling China’s move “absurd” and accused the country of doing “cartographic rape.” The United States government has yet to provide a comment regarding this matter.
China’s new neighbors are believed to surely question how legitimate the map is and it is expected that these countries will object to China’s expansion. China is currently in a territorial feud with the Philippines and other South-East Asian countries involving Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

A new map of China, dubbed as "251-dash map," claiming Hawaii and most of Micronesia as part of its territory.

Source: Minstry of Education, China

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has defended the move, stating that the new map, the “251-dash map,” is backed by different documents from the Qing era. These documents reportedly prove that the Northern Mariana, Marshall and Caroline Islands belong to the Chinese.
“The study of what constitutes Chinese territory is ongoing,” one official from the ministry said, as reported by Ministry of Harmony.

On a more interesting note, there seems to be evidence that the Ming Empire once took control over Antartica. The Ministry of Education said it would soon start with creating a new and revised world map.
Press secretary for White House, Josh Earnest, said in February that it should be recognized that China has several disagreements with other countries and it is one of the important reasons why the US strongly believes that all parties involved should settle their differences in a peaceful matter to avoid military confrontation.