Google is considering Vietnam’s complaint that its ‘Google Maps’ site misrepresents the land demarcation line between Vietnam and China, a Google’s spokesperson told VietNamNet.

On March 20, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Nga asked Google Maps to correct its description of the land demarcation line between Vietnam and China. The boundary line is ‘incorrect,’ Nga said.

Google’s spokesperson Kate Hurowitz, who represents Google Earth and Google Maps, told VietNamNet on March 23 that Google is reviewing this matter.

According to Hurowitz, the data and pictures of the Vietnam-China border on the Google Earth and Google Map sites come from different sources. Google updates its maps to ensure that they accurately show the actual state at the highest level.

In fact, on Google Maps, some several thousand square kilometers of Vietnam’s territory are incorrectly assigned to China. This error is easy to see by studying the border line from Dien Bien to Mong Cai.

On Google Maps, many border crossing gates like Tan Thanh and Thanh Thuy are shown as being on the Chinese side of the border.

Recently a National Geographic Society map was discovered to show the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands as belonging to China. Some scholars, researchers and organizations in Vietnam sent a letter to the National Geographic Society opposing and ask for correcting this error. The Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson on March 13 also asked the National Geographic Society to fix the error.

On March 16, the National Geographic Society issued a press release, saying that denoting Hoang Sa Archipelago with a Chinese name and the word “China” without further explanation can be misleading or misinterpreted. In the future it would either provide the additional explanation that was included on its other maps, or would omit any designation, the organization said.

VietNamNet will keep track of the moves of Google and related sites to report to our readers.

Phuong Loan