Taiwan protest’s against Google’s description of Taiwan as a province of China
Google, the most-used Internet search engine, said its description of Taiwan as a province of China is consistent with international naming conventions such as those followed by the United Nations. Google faces protests from Taiwan’s government because of the description, which is used on its map service.
We rely on international naming conventions to find a consistent policy, said Ms Debbie Frost, a spokesman for the company based in Mountain View, California.
Taiwan has repeatedly sought entry to the United Nations, which recognizes China’s sovereignty over the island. China, which has diplomatic ties with many more countries than Taiwan, considers Taiwan a renegade province.
The island’s Foreign Ministry has instructed its US representative office to ask Google to correct the listing, said deputy director-general David Wang at the ministry in Taipei.
But Mr Wang said: We hope Google will respect the fact that Taiwan is an independent state and not a province of China.
In further developments over the issue, Google accept the Foreign Ministry’s request.
TAIWAN: Google Corrects Map Reference
Google’s map service will remove the words "a province of China" in reference to Taiwan
The description of Taiwan as a "province of China" used on Google’s map service incurred criticism, with the TSU legislative caucus earlier last week launching a letter campaign and MOFA instructing its US representative office to ask Google for a correction.
Following protests from legislators and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs MOFA over the Google Maps service’s reference to Taiwan as a part of China, the Internet search engine over the weekend removed the words a province of China from its map of Taiwan.
Controversial
A Google Inc international affairs spokesman told the Central News Agency that since the purpose of the map service is to provide information on geographic location, removing controversial literature or explanations was a way for the company to improve its product.
According to Google’s Web site, Google Maps provides users with data such as business locations and driving directions.
Protests
Scores of Taiwan expatriates residing in the Silicon Valley area swamped the headquarters of the search engine giant Google yesterday in a display of support for Taiwan as a sovereign country.
As Google originally refused to make the correction on the grounds that the description was consistent with international naming conventions, such as those followed by the UN, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen said the ministry would continue to protest to Google until the mistake was corrected.
After receiving a letter of concern from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco, a de facto Taiwan consulate office, October 6 complaining about Google Maps service’s reference to Taiwan as a "province of China," Google removed the reference from the service October 9.
Despite the fact that Google Inc. removed its reference to Taiwan as a "province of China" from its Google Maps service earlier after the Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Taiwan nationals living in the United States voiced their concerns about the reference, the Taiwan expatriates still decided to gather in front of Google’s headquarters in Silicon Valley to make known their stance of upholding Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The protesters waved banners that read "Taiwan is an independent country" and "One China, One Taiwan."
Reports from Taiwan have said that Taiwan authorities and legislators were up in arms over the Google Maps description of Taiwan as a province of China. The reports also said that Taiwan’s liaison offices in the United States had been asked since September 19 to convey Taiwan’s concern and indignation to Google Inc. about the matter but that the requests had all fallen on deaf ears.
One of the protesters, Hung Shun-wu, a former Taiwan national assemblyman representing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, expressed his appreciation to Google for listening to the Taiwan public’s call ‘to present the facts as they are.’
Noting that Taiwan is an independent state, Hung said that while striving to boost its business expansion in China, Google’s services should also portray the truth, such as the political reality of Taiwan.
Hung added that the Taiwan expatriates’ demonstration in front of the Google headquarters was also aimed at notifying other high-tech companies ready to head to China not to make the same sort of mistake.
Taiwan’s complaint is not the first that Google Maps has received. Last year, South Koreans protested Google’s use of the namesto describe the sea between Japan and South Korea, instead of the name East China Sea.
Following the protests, Google decided to use both names on its maps in a bid to calm the protests.
In a recent interview with the Voice of America VOA, Vice President Annette Lu also lent her voice to the protests, and said it was essential that the Internet search engine make a correction and apologize.
A Google Inc. international affairs spokesman would not confirm as to whether Google changed the Taiwan map reference due to pressure from Taiwan, only saying that the map service is a pure American product and that the change was made in response to the many concerns expressed by Web site visitors about the user interface.