Wrong map ignites university fury

The Chinese-Indian border dispute has spilled over into an Australian university after an IT lecturer was targeted by Chinese students.

A Sydney University IT lecturer has been forced to issue a public apology after international students were outraged by his use of a map showing Chinese claimed territory as part of India.

UPDATE: Newcastle uni academic suggests Taiwan, Hong Kong are separate countries.

The incident is the third prominent case this year where academic staff or Australian universities have apologised after their actions were attacked on Chinese social media.

Earlier this month, an Australian National University lecturer said he had made a “poor decision” after translating a warning about cheating into Mandarin.

In May, Monash University suspended a lecturer and decided to review an entire course after the academic included a question making fun of Chinese officials in a quiz.

The Wechat account of a Sydney University international students group first posted an article last Wednesday which complained the lecturer, Khimji Vaghjiani, had used a world map which showed that India was in control of territory on the border with China while teaching.

The map that was used by a Sydney University lecturer.

“India should respect the facts!” the article’s author demanded.

Long-running tension between India and China over their border has risen over recent months in part due to China’s attempt to extend a border road over the Doklam plateau, a thin strip of land bordering both countries and Bhutan.

China claims Doklam, and calls it Donglang, while India and Bhutan claim the land belongs to Bhutan.

The map used by Mr Vaghjiani showed Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin and Ladakh as part of India, parts of which China claims as its own.

The Australian Red Scarf — a popular site for Chinese international students — also posted an article on the use of the map and said the map should be removed.

Mr Vaghjiani has now apologised for using the map and said it was “out of date”.

“Over 18 months ago, I used an out-of-date map, downloaded from the internet, when discussing characteristics of IT entrepreneurs around the world, however I was unaware that the map was inaccurate and out-of-date. This was a genuine mistake and I regret any offence this may have caused,” he said in a statement released by the University of Sydney to The Australian.

“The map displayed on mq.weicin.qq.com is not part of the course materials for the unit of study called Professional Practice in Information Technology.”

“The course introduces students to concepts, standards and techniques associated with professional practice in information technology in business environments. The current learning materials for this course (Semester 2 2017) are up-to-date and do not contain this map.”

The controversy comes after a Sydney Chinese Australian automobile club organised a convoy trip through Sydney on August 15 to protest India’s position on the border dispute.

The convoy of luxury cars covered in Chinese flags reportedly passed a number of Sydney iconic destinations before arriving outside the Consulate General of India in Sydney.

The cars also sported slogans such as “Anyone who offends China will be killed no matter how far the target is”, “Borderline is our baseline” and “China: Not even a bit can be left behind”, according to reports on SBS Chinese and Sydney Today.