WHO map shows Ladakh's Aksai Chin as part of China

Representative image

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reportedly shown parts of Ladakh as Chinese territory.

The health organisation’s website shows the Aksai Chin region as a part of China with a dotted line and colour code. Furthermore, the WHO map also marks Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with dotted lines, suggesting it as a disputed territory. Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the rest of India are marked in different colour codes.

While several United Nations (UN) maps have shown parts of Kashmir as ‘disputed’ territory in the past, this is probably the first time that Ladakh and J&K are shown in different colour codes than the rest of India.

Gautam Bambawale, India’s former envoy to China, Pakistan and Bhutan told The Economic Times (ET), “The map of India depicted by WHO differs from the standard depiction even of the United Nations itself, by not showing parts of J&K which are under actual control of India as a part of our country.” He further added that the different colour coding for JnK and Ladakh from the rest of India in the WHO map is “strange, incorrect, and surprising.”

In one such previous instance, China recently included parts of Arunachal Pradesh — which it calls a part of South Tibet — within its international boundaries, according to an updated version of the Sky Map.