China says Google must show Spratly and Paracel Islands belong to China

By Tony Le
VietWill.org
6 May 2008

Beijing is at it again, this time with Google. According to a news report by AFP today, the Chinese government is investigating online mapping sites that may expose state secrets or compromise its so called territorial integrity. China doesn't want Internet maps to be showing where China's military bases are located or where its army is stationed.

Beijing is also quite concerned about online maps that show various disputed territories as not belonging to China, for example, the Paracel and Spratly Islands in Vietnam's Eastern Sea, or the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. It also wants Taiwan to be indicated as part of Chinese territory.

Not only Google, but online Chinese mapping sites Sohu and Baidu are being investigated as well. It will come as no surprise if Sohu and Baidu correct their "errors" if there happens to be any. However, it will be of great interest to the parties in the territorial disputes to see whether Google will submit to Beijing's pressure for the sake of its business interests in the gargantuan market that is China.

Of great particular concern for Vietnamese people are the Paracel Islands which China illegally seized from Vietnam in 1974, and part of the Spratly Islands which China also took control from Vietnam after a military invasion in 1988.

Presently, searching the Google maps site reveals that the Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands are labeled by their English names. There are no Chinese or Vietnamese names added to the English label, unlike other undisputed Chinese territories that have both the English script and the Chinese script underneath.

Undoubtedly, Beijing would like Google maps to indicate these islands as Xisha and Nansha (with Chinese characters included) on the map. If it judges that the present way that Google labels these archipelasgos as "illegal" and "damanging" to Chinese territorial integrity, perhaps it will decide to ban Google in China as it has done in other instances with Youtube and Google itself in 2002.

Beijing’s bullyism now shows itself in myriad ways -- taking all the festivity out of the Olympics torch relay, building a secret nuclear submarine base in Hainan Island along with an ominous military build up, and threatening actions against even the big Internet giant Google so that it can get its own way. As China continues to climb up the superpower ladder rung by rung, we can be sure that Beijing will not cease to come up with even more ingenious ways to make its ambitions a reality.

News story link
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gpWeF-...pYOoLM1b7yh-Hewhttp://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/new...le-china-online

China to investigate Google for illegal maps: official media

6 May 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — China has launched an investigation into online mapping services by Internet giants including Google and Sohu in an effort to protect state secrets and territorial integrity, state press said.

According to Min Yiren, vice head of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, authorities hope to get rid of online maps that wrongly depict China's borders or that reveal military secrets, the People's Daily said Monday.

The government began the investigation into the problematic maps in April and will continue it until the end of the year, the report said.

Min cited five areas of concern, with the redrawing of China's borders and placing disputed territory outside the nation the top priority, it said. Such areas of dispute include Taiwan, the Spratlys and Paracels island chains in the South China Sea and the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, it said.

Previous reports, citing Min, said that there were nearly 10,000 illegal map websites in China. The People's Daily named US Internet giant Google, as well as China's Sohu and Baidu, as being under investigation.

The report was seen as the first time the government media had named specific companies as possible offenders. Eight ministries including the mapping bureau, the Ministry of Industry and Information, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Safety are involved in the investigation, it said.

Last year, China restricted mapping and survey activity by foreign entities for national security reasons.