USTR Removes X Post That Showed PoK and Aksai Chin Part of Indian Territory

New York: The office of the US Trade Representative has removed a social media post featuring a map of India showing the entire Jammu and Kashmir region, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and the Aksai Chin region as part of Indian territory. Last week, as the US and India announced details of a bilateral interim agreement framework on trade, the US Trade Representative’s office posted information about the trade deal on social media website X, along with a map of India.

The map showed the entire Jammu and Kashmir region, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as Indian territory. Similarly, the Aksai Chin region, claimed by China, was shown as part of Indian territory.

However, the specific post showing the map of India has now been deleted from USTR’s X handle.

In previous campaigns, maps of India were shown with a designated line depicting PoK and the Aksai Chin region. However, the map of India published by USTR showed the entire Jammu and Kashmir region, including these two regions, as an integral part of India.

New Delhi has consistently emphasized that the entire Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. India also maintains that Aksai Chin is an integral part of its territory based on historical claims and past agreements.

Previously, in the “standard map” published by China, the country claimed Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.

India and the US announced on Friday night that they had reached a framework for the first phase of a bilateral trade deal under which both sides would reduce import duties on a range of goods to boost two-way trade.