HONG KONG — From the peaks of the Himalayan mountains to the shoals of the South China Sea, China lays claim to a vast territory — and a new national map produced by Beijing is the latest expansive conception of its borders to outrage its neighbors.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and India, all of which have territorial disputes with China, have objected to the 2023 version of the country’s “standard map,” released Monday by the Chinese Ministry of Natural Resources.

The map includes a U-shaped line that reaffirms Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, a resource-rich and strategically important region through which trillions of dollars in trade flows each year. The line extends into the exclusive economic zones of a number of countries.

China’s new map could worsen clashes in the area, said Donald Rothwell, a professor of law at the Australian National University in Canberra, who focuses on the law of the sea.  ABC