It looks like some border adjustments

The 2023 edition of the 'National Map of China' provoked reactions in India, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.
...meh.

The Russies are busy back east, and the ChiComms are buying their discounted oil, while incentivising Texacans to drill, baby, drill.
Veet-Nam and the Philippines are trying to get us to start using old Cold War bases, and....Taiwan.
India (Bharat?) is kinda sorta at war with the ChiComms over the bumpy kinda-sorta border that both nations share.

It's one thing to DRAW a map....or dashes.....

 

Actually, the ultimate goal of China is to regain East Manchuria that was ceded to Russia in the 1850's.

That includes Vladivostok and Sakhalin Island, which has extensive untapped petroleum reserves that China sorely wants and needs.

That region is sparsely populated by Russians with a huge population of Chinese across the border.

Beijing is an arid region plagued by frequent droughts. Chinese has made extensive purchases in the Lake Baikal region on account of one of the largest supply of fresh water in anticipation of building a pipeline to China but has been deterred by Russia.

It would also provide with access to the Pacific without the choke point of the Straits of Malacca.

Taiwan is a distraction. East Manchuria is what China really wants back. Getting it back would make Xi Jinping one of the greatest Chinese leaders in history and put his stature on the level of Chairman Mao.

 

Gee.
That's funny.....I think that Vlad is actually IN Vladivostok this week.
He's NOT meeting with the ChiComms.......

As far as regaining East Manchuria....it's probably a LOT easier to invade Russia from the West, and many have done that before.
...NOT many have succeeded.
The ChiComms are going to have a bit of a problem swallowing that territory whole, because the Russies have not quite completely been bled out by the Ukies.......oh, and they ARE a run-down gas station......with nukes.
BUT they ARE a gas station.

The ChiComms are dealing with an economic situation that's even more unsettling than Bidenomics.
Good reason to start a war.....but personally I'd remember some of those long ago forgotten lessons from WW1 and not start in the wrong place.

 

There is a reason why the Chinese are bolstering their defenses along the western border with Russia, while the Russians are moving lot of their military assets from the east to help with the war against Ukraine.

 

The ChiComms still need Russian oil and other consumables.....just like the Rooskies need currency and 152mm shells.
Rocket Man is just a meat puppet for the ChiComms, and hey....what's a little fissile material between frienemies?
Taipei may be considered to be a "distraction" to some folks, and the Chicomms WOULD ultimately prevail in making them their 23rd province.
The five laughably labeled "autonomous regions" and others are sometimes included in a higher CHICOMM count, but then I myself often cite "52" US states and my POTUS, not to be outdone, has used 54 as the number of US states.

 

"regain East Manchuria" Very interesting. This would limit Russian navy access to Pacific. They might not be pacific about that.

"one of the largest supply of fresh water in anticipation of building a pipeline to China" In contrast, I have heard about this idea. Baikal has 20% of global unfrozen freshwater. But unfrozen is a seasonal thing. This water pipeline would be a large engineering feat. A country wanting to proceed with that might keep bear poking to a minimum.

 

Russia has something of a history with rebuffing unwanted advances, and they also have had unwanted relations with their neighbors to the east.
They also have sparklies.
....IN places east of 50-degrees.

The ChiComms could probably get permission to stick a straw into the world's oldest, deepest and most voluminous lake, but the Russians are going to want them to ASK and PAY.
Given their history with pipes.....they're going to want shut-off valves.
IN RUSSIA.

Baikal is often described as the world's cleanest lake.
Maybe fake news.
Maybe not.

You can FILTER water more easily than making it low sodium.

 

Oh, Baikal is impressive in all those ways and more.