- [Johnny] On August 28th, 2023,
the Chinese government released a map.
The map did a surprisingly good job
at making a lot of other countries angry.
- [Reporter 1] Several countries have rejected
China's new standard map.
- It's a violation of the law.
That's where I put that map.
- [Johnny] The release of this map also was met
with a huge event and announcement within China.
This featured the state media launching into a commentary
on the importance of maps.
(reporter speaks in Chinese)
- [Johnny] Followed by a warning to the people
that maps that have errors can cause,
quote, great harm to society.
(speaks in Chinese)
- [Johnny] So let's look at what's going on with this map.
Why countries around the region are condemning it
and why China had to go to such great lengths
to tell people that there's nothing wrong with these maps,
and that in fact a map like this is key to national unity.
To do this, I'm gonna need a high res version of this map.
Luckily, the Chinese government has me covered.
(reporter speaks in Chinese)
(bright music)
- I wanna show you what this map says
and show you how China uses cartography
to assert and project power in its region.
Because as clean as this map looks,
within it, there's actually a lot going on.
Border tug of wars, fake islands,
a 10th-dash on a line in the ocean,
barbed wire wrapped clubs and proxy wars.
It's the perfect example of how maps aren't just maps,
they're tools of national power.
(bright music)
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Thank you Incogni for sponsoring our journalism.
And now, it's time to dive
into this mapping story about China
and its very, very interesting new map.
The government of China wants their country
to look like this.
But in reality, it looks a lot more like this.
We're gonna move left to right
from India to Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Oh, by the way,
the Chinese government requires its mapmakers
to use this algorithm that intentionally scrambles
the latitude and longitude coordinates of their maps
all in the name of national security.
This makes it hard for people like me
to work with Chinese maps,
but we were able to hack through these maps
and line them up with our own mapping systems,
which is how we're able to make this video.
Okay, with that, let's get started.
First, we have Kashmir,
a region that is already heavily disputed
between India and Pakistan.
The map shows that all of this section is a part of China,
and indeed, China controls it.
But India claims that this actually belongs to them.
It's the source of tense conflict.
Both countries are building stuff in this region.
Roads, communication towers, airfields,
everything to be ready
in case a full blown conflict breaks out.
Troops from both sides face each other
in a standoff at this line,
the line of actual control,
that's really what it's called.
It loosely marks the border
between these two massive countries,
a border that was never really agreed upon.
Because remember where we are here.
We're in the Himalayas,
the tallest mountains on earth.
Drawing lines and controlling territory here
just doesn't work super well.
But both sides want to exert control
even here in the high mountains,
especially in these important trade regions.
These are two nuclear countries.
And so they've agreed to not use firearms up here, no guns.
So instead, when conflict breaks out,
it looks more like a medieval battle
with barbed wire wrapped clubs and fence posts.
The most recent clash was just in 2020
right here near Ladakh.
20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
- [Reporter 2] Indian and Chinese soldiers
fought on disputed land using stones and bamboo poles,
and around two dozen people die.
- As you go down the border between India and China,
there are several more of these pockets of disputed land
in the Himalayas.
As we head east, we'll hit Nepal,
and I have to mention that there was recently
a leaked government report out of Nepal
that asserts that China is encroaching
into Nepal's sovereign territory,
building stuff with no permission
on Nepal's side of the border
here in the Humla District.
Nepal actually didn't want this report to come out.
They have to walk a fine line
being sandwiched between these two behemoth countries.
And a big part of that means staying on China's good side.
A few years ago,
I was up here shooting an episode of Vox Borders
and the locals told me that the Chinese military
didn't respect the border.
They kind of did whatever they wanted,
which is why I wasn't even allowed
to get up to the border fence between these two countries.
It's an eerie feeling being so close to a country
that is so serious
about projecting its power to its neighbors.
Anyway, let's keep going east
where we'll hit another landlocked country
in the Himalayas, Bhutan.
The border here continues to make an effort
to divide these countries
in a rugged glacier filled expanse.
Back in 2006,
China quietly pressured Bhutan
to give them this big chunk of mountain territory,
and Bhutan conceded.
They didn't really have a choice.
And so while they kind of keep it hush hush,
China is reminding the world
that they actually control this part of Bhutan.
It's theirs now.
China's using the same playbook in different parts of Bhutan
blurring this northern border as they encroach south.
In 2020, China claimed that they actually own
this part of Bhutan,
a forested nature sanctuary.
But strangely, this official map doesn't show
that this area is inside of China's borders.
Maybe it will next year.
The most strategically important part
of China's claim on Bhutan is here.
This little strip of land gives us a better idea
of why China is squeezing the border of this tiny country.
If you zoom out,
you'll see where we are.
Right here at this vital choke point
between these two rivals, India and China,
this thin corridor where India connects
to its eastern states.
Some call this the chicken neck.
The map asserts that China owns this part of Bhutan,
the Doklam Plateau,
which provides them a perfect military vantage point
over the chicken neck, India's critical corridor.
This would make India vulnerable
in the case of an act of conflict.
Oh, and their claim is not just on the map.
Satellite imagery analyzed by Reuters
shows that China is building roads
and settlements and structures
on this sovereign territory of Bhutan,
enhancing their strategic military position
and fortifying their claim on the map.
These border shenanigans in Bhutan
are considered a proxy for tension between China and India.
Bhutan, like Nepal, is just sandwiched in the middle.
- These satellite images
of the Chinese incursions in Bhutan,
where China has built roads
and barracks on the undisputed territory of Bhutan.
- [Johnny] Okay, let's keep moving on.
Next to Bhutan,
China's map shows that all of this land
are within its borders.
They now call it South Tibet,
but all of this territory belongs to India.
It's full of Indian citizens.
India's claim to this land
relies on this 890 kilometer borderline
that a British representative drew in 1913
in partnership with a representative from Tibet
who agreed to the line.
But China says this isn't legitimate.
They own Tibet now,
and they never authorized this line
dividing Tibet from India.
So on their map,
they assert that all of this belongs to China.
And to take it a step further,
they're actually renaming stuff on their maps in this region
from mountain peaks to rivers and cities,
showing us how China wants to claim
and standardize every corner of its country,
exerting control and influence even in these remote places.
Now, India's not standing by and letting this happen.
To counter this,
the Indian government is spending a half a billion dollars
to build roads
and develop hundreds of villages
with the goal of solidifying their claim to this land.
As we head east, let me mention that during the pandemic,
China has been building a fence
along this border with Myanmar
mostly to keep people and elicit goods out of China.
This border has always been porous.
People who share culture and language
would cross back and forth in formally trading,
but this fence has totally changed that,
and people are angry.
I've considered doing an entire video on this border fence
and how it's disturbing and affecting life here.
If that's interesting to you,
please let me know in the comments.
So while this isn't a disputed territory,
it is another example of China's increased effort
to tighten its control on every corner of its land.
Okay, now we've arrived to the ocean.
The part of the map that gets a little wild.
The government map actually makes it look simple.
All of the water inside of this dashed line is China's,
but the reality actually looks like this.
This is what's known as the nine-dash line,
and it was effectively a hand-drawn boundary
by the Chinese government in the 1940s.
It's not a precise border.
It wasn't agreed upon by the countries here
and nor is it legal,
at least according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration
in the Hague
who calls the nine-dash line lawless
because it clearly cuts through the waters
that international law says
belong to these neighboring countries.
And that's how you get this jumble of all these lines.
But as superpowers do,
China ignores all of this because they can.
And they continue to operate as if this entire ocean,
which, by the way, is replete with fish and fossil fuels,
as well as militarily strategic islands
and important trade routes,
all of it is theirs.
This has created active conflicts with neighboring countries
because for China,
these aren't just lines on a map.
China has been pumping sand onto tiny reefs
to create islands where there were none.
Then they build a military outpost
on these newly created islands.
In the last decade,
they've built dozens of these outposts
throughout the South China Sea,
and you can see that these militarized islands
are right inside the waters
that the world has agreed belong to these other countries.
The Chinese Navy also steps in,
patrolling these waters
and routinely harassing fishermen from other countries
reminding them that China isn't subject to the rules.
This is their water,
just like their official map says.
- [Reporter 3]] United States
is accusing China of harassment.
- [Reporter 4] A Filipino fisherman was chased
by Chinese Coast Guard speedboats
as he made a dash for the shallow waters
of Scarborough Shoal last Friday.
- [Johnny] A similar dispute is happening
on a group of islands a little north of here
where Japan, China, and Taiwan all claim these islands
that are surrounded by oil and gas fields.
China will often flex on Japan
by sending Coast Guard ships
into the water and airspace around these islands.
This is their neighborhood.
They think these islands are theirs,
and they're going to assert that claim on the map,
as well as in real life.
On China's map, Taiwan is included as a part of China.
Even though Taiwan has been independent for decades,
China insists that this is theirs.
And if push comes to shove,
they've made it very clear
that they're willing to claim it back by force.
And to that end,
this new map includes an addition to the nine-dash line,
a 10th-dash,
a line that drifts dangerously north
to encircle the water east of Taiwan.
This isn't the first time that a 10th-dash has appeared
on a Chinese government map,
but it is a meaningful moment for the government
to just slip in another dash
and it's created a big debate
about what this actually means.
But one thing that almost all experts agree on
is that China's ability to just switch up their ocean claim
by adding another dash
communicates the original message of using a hand-drawn line
as your maritime claim,
which is that China feels historically entitled
to this region, to this ocean,
and they will behave how they choose
in their own neighborhood,
especially at a time when its neighbors are partnering
with its geopolitical rival, the United States,
to surround and encircle China
with a large military buildup in the region.
The last one I'll mention
is a tiny one that's kind of surprising.
It's up here where the map claims this river island
that should belong to Russia.
There was a dispute about this,
but 20 years ago,
Russia and China agreed to redraw the border like this,
giving half of this island back to Russia.
But in this map,
they claim it once again and no one is totally sure why.
So this new map out of China
is a series of political statements,
which arguably every map is.
Some of these are worthy of debate,
some are wishful thinking,
and some are downright aggressive.
But one thing is clear,
China is now rich and powerful
and motivated to exert its geopolitical vision in the world.
It's a reminder that maps have always been a tool
for great powers to express their aspirations.
And this map in this modern day is no different.
(bright music)