Google bows to Chinese hegemonic designs
Updated
This is really too bad. Google succumbs to Chinese pressure, and lists Taiwan, the less powerful independent country across the Taiwan Strait, as a "province of China" in Google Maps.
As Jeff says, makes you wonder what else Google is doing to win favor with the Chinese.
Update: We've read the comments that say Google is doing only the same as the U.S. and many other governments. But hang on. The U.S. State Department's online information on Taiwan at least gives the island its own separate country page. Other online maps simply list the island as ``Taiwan,'' and don't wade into the politics. Taiwan separated from China in 1949 after a civil war, has since been self-governed, and evolved into a stable democracy. So why should Google revert and call Taiwan a province of China? Anyway, here's a good piece (free registration) that runs in the Merc today by our colleague April Lynch on this issue.
http://www.siliconbeat.com/cgi-bin/mt331/mt-tb.cgi/759
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Tracked: October 12, 2005 9:19 AM
Really a shame. Does Google think this will make China not block Google? Stupid.
Maxine on October 4, 2005 5:57 PMComment link
I posted a trackback but it didn't work. I've commented on Yahoo, Google and others in China and what I think should be done here: http://nullvariable.com/2005/10/04/searching-china-freedoms-future/
NullVariable on October 4, 2005 6:26 PMComment link
Google is doing what the US, the PRC and the ROC (Taiwan) governments all recognize--that Taiwan is part of China. This interview is with a Taiwanese indepence activist who has no government legitimacy. The Western press/blogosphere is misinterpreting this and trying to make a diplomatic issue where none exists.
bill bishop on October 4, 2005 6:48 PMComment link
This is like when Yahoo became an informant for the Chinese government.
There will be more companies who will do this kind of things to be on the good side of the world most populous country.
George on October 4, 2005 6:49 PMComment link
As a Taiwanese I take do not completely agree with Bill's comment. Without threat of force, majority of Taiwanese will choose to be independent. Just because we are ethnically Chinese and is proud of our Chinese culture & heritage does not mean we need to be affiliated with China politically. Ethnicity /= nationality. There is much to learn from the Americans where Italian-Americans can be proud of their heritage but still be Americans in nationality.
Not True Bill on October 4, 2005 7:29 PMComment link
Taiwan is not part of PRC. This is not just Taiwanese indepence activist speaking. The ROC (Taiwan) government does not recognize Taiwan as a province. Overwhelming majority Taiwanese prefer maintaining the status quo, which is not to unite with China.
raid168 on October 4, 2005 8:01 PMComment link
Are they just following ISO terminology, which comes from the UN?
ISO 3166 lists Taiwan as a "Taiwan, Province of China", exactly in the same way as Google does.
(http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/iso3166ma/02iso-3166-code-lists/list-en1.html#sz)
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Since when does following an ISO standard becomes bowing to the power the of big bad China? Hating people who are not exactly like you and don not belive all things you believe is the easy instinct to follow. You guys seem to be smart about technology and money, why can't you open up your mind and learn a thing or two about why 1.3 billion people think taiwan IS a province of china. Oh, they are all brain washed by the communists.
George on October 5, 2005 5:58 AMComment link
George, don't you find it odd that all 1.3 billion people believe that? If it's not propaganda, I don't know what is.
Albert on October 5, 2005 7:18 AMComment link
Political status of Taiwan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan
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this is political non-sense. although taiwan is not a part of People's Republic of China, it is a part of China. taiwan's official name is Republic of China.
pki on October 5, 2005 1:56 PMComment link
Shame on SiliconBeat's reporters for being so ignorant about Taiwan's history and so quick to judge. Please take a look at Taiwan's history timeline: http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Timeline+of+Taiwanese+history&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&linktext=Timeline%20of%20Taiwanese%20history
It's been a province of China since 1683, way before the U.S. was born.
Jim on October 5, 2005 3:12 PMComment link
Albert, what do you say when 200+ million people in the US believe in a particular version of "democracy" and demand that the whole world follow, propaganda?
George on October 5, 2005 4:31 PMComment link
Jim,
Taiwan has been a province of China, but that was a long time ago. Just like US has been colony of Britain.
What is important is that the current communist government has never ruled Taiwan for a single microsecond and the people of Taiwan has no desire to be a province of China.
raid168 on October 5, 2005 5:13 PMComment link
if 20 Million Muslim extremests believe US is the devil it must also be true? . . . self determination is the foundation of not democracy but human existance! The PRC have no business deciding what the people living in Taiwan want for them . . .
China has as much historical claim to Taiwan as Japan, Portugal, and Netherland. . . each once "owned" Taiwan . . . all after China owned Taiwan. . . so maybe China need to get in line first. . .
george is chinese :) on October 5, 2005 7:27 PMComment link
George, Americans are subject to propaganda as well. However, the 200 million people in the US don't think the same thing. We have elections to help decide policy, and our last election was very contentious. How was China's last election?
Albert on October 6, 2005 6:55 PMComment link
Question to answer:
Can I use PRC passport to get into Taiwan? Why not, if Taiwan is province of PRC?
chou on October 8, 2005 2:53 PMComment link
since when did mass beliefs become propaganda??!??!
if you think that thats propaganda.....then isnt christianity and islam and budhism and every other major religion in the world also propaganda?
i think that if the US acknowleges it, and NATO does too, then how is taiwan independent?
Vincent on October 20, 2005 7:28 PMComment link
At the end of the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist troops fled China from the Communists. Ultimately, the Communist Party was victorious and gained control of China. Just because Nationlists in Taiwan declare themselves a country, does not make this true.
In the American civil war, the south side could have just as easily staked out a peice of land and declare it as CSA, but that does not mean that this is official. Because the North side won the American Civil War, Lincoln was in control. Because the Communists won the Chinese Civil War, Mao was in control.
Alaska might as well declare independence, for they are more different from mainland US than Taiwan is from the PRC, but as the USA will not allow that to happen, the same must apply to a province of China.
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