|
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.
--AFP
|
