NEWS: Taiwan tells Google it is not a China province

With the recent release of Google Earth: Beta, the map of the World for every user has had very few complaints and this is the first one that could test their company. In the product, they do not count Taiwan as a seperate Nation but as a part of China and the Taiwanese Government have asked them to change their stance.



I find this highly interesting, it makes for a new debate on the issue of Taiwan/China. One that isn't based upon political arguements or who has the bigger guns but instead of how the World views them.

Will Google run the risk of loosing the Chinese Market for the sake of keeping Taiwan?

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Can China Invade Taiwan?

[edit on 4/10/2005 by Odium]
Mod Edit: Fixed Quoted Source

[edit on 10/4/05 by FredT]

Hmm...very interesting indeed. If I were in the Google exec's shoes, I would change references to Taiwan as independent, because that's what it is. Maybe I'm not getting the whole story here, but this confrontation in itself doesn't seem incredibly newsworthy.

In the product, they do not count Taiwan as a seperate Nation but as a part of Taiwan and the Taiwanese Government have asked them to change their stance.

I assume you meant "....as a part of China and the Taiwanese Government have asked..."

This is a very interesting story I am going to follow, and I'll bet right about now Google is contact with the White House over this sensitive issue. This will no doubt insense Beijing, especially after that last recent article about their demands to the UAE requiring that they cease all contact with Taiwan just over a visit from Chen to the UAE.

Wowza, when China realizes the extensive implications of this, which by now they are probably debating, Washington is sure to get a very upset call from Beijing over this. One China policy, uh huh.

Bets? Mine is Google will ignore Taiwanese demands and continue to list it as a province of China. I will be surprised if they change that. There is just too much at stake.

[edit on 4-10-2005 by TrueAmerican]

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
This is a very interesting story I am going to follow, and I'll bet right about now Google is contact with the White House over this sensitive issue. This will no doubt insense Beijing, especially after that last recent article about their demands to the UAE requiring that they cease all contact with Taiwan just over a visit from Chen to the UAE.

Wowza, when China realizes the extensive implications of this, which by now they are probably debating, Washington is sure to get a very upset call from Beijing over this. One China policy, uh huh.

Bets? Mine is Google will ignore Taiwanese demands and continue to list it as a province of China. I will be surprised if they change that. There is just too much at stake.

[edit on 4-10-2005 by TrueAmerican]

No bet. I was going to post pretty much the same comments as you. This could indeed turn interesting.

Just a thought, why did Google set itself up for this? Taiwan is an island and could quite simply of been named "Taiwan", why did they have to also add that its a province of China? Did they not forsee the Taiwanese complaint? Hell, any geography student would know that Taiwan would object.

They didnt need to add that much detail to their Atlas. Its entirely a problem of Google's own making. Now they have to choose sides and they'll lose no matter who they pick.

The Chinese are right. Tiawan is still part of China. They still pay certain taxes to them and everything. Taiwan just hates to admit it and Google was correct.

I have a Taiwanese friend (over the internet) who told me that the Chinese government paid for his education (structural engineering) .

They don't want to be part of China but they know that China would crush them if they tried to defect.

On the other hand, Google can just simply delete the line. But I couldn't imagine them changing the line to suit Taiwan's wishes. Nonetheless the damage is done, and it seems Bejing would have something to say about it to Taiwan, given the UAE story. You are right subz, it is an unecessary blunder up at the big google, and does nothing but puts the issue right back in China's face.

Huh? What does this entail? I have never heard that mainland China contributes to any kind of financial assistance to Taiwan's citizens. My dad was from the mainland and went to Taiwan and the Taiwanese government paid for his ENTIRE education. He is a structural engineer and went to Taida - The National University. Those commies didn't pay for jack. In fact, he got pulled into the police station because he was from the mainland while attending university. The Taiwanese government paid for his entire education. The commies paying for anything? Sounds like non-sense. Saying that Taiwan is a party of China is like saying that India and Pakistan should be the same country.

[edit on 5-10-2005 by hotsheets]

[edit on 5-10-2005 by hotsheets]

Or could you say that China is a part of Taiwan