Beijing probing Google over ‘problematic’ maps

China 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.

Min Yiren (閔宜仁), vice head of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, said that authorities hoped to get rid of online maps that wrongly depict China’s borders or that reveal military secrets, the People’s Daily said on Monday.

The government began the investigation into the problematic maps last month and would continue it until the end of the year, the report said.

Min 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 Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea and the Diaoyudai in the East China Sea, it said.

Previous citing Min, said that there were nearly 10,000 illegal map Web sites in China.

SOHU, BAIDU

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 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.