DFA backs call for Google to stop using Chinese names of disputed areas

The Philippine government on Monday supported calls for Google to remove Chinese references for disputed parts of the South China Sea and replace it with neutral names.

Google map refers to the Macclesfield Bank—a cluster of submerged shoals, banks and reefs—by its Chinese name, Zhongsha Islands.

“We support that move to give them neutral names,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose told a press briefing.

Non-government organization Change.org launched a petition last week to stop Google from acknowledging Chinese names for South China Sea features.

The map also says that the Philippine-claimed Scarborough Shoal, locally known as Panatag or Bajo de Masinloc and Huangyan Island in Chinese, is part of Zhongsha Islands.

“Google maps showing this is part of Zhongsha island chain gives credence to what is plainly a territory grab that peace-loving nations should stand against,” Change.org said in its website.

Jose pointed out that Google should use neutral names for the features in the South China Sea since its maps are widely used as a reference.

“A lot of people use these maps and if you’re looking for names (of certain features), you resort to Google,” he said.

Jose, meanwhile, said he does not see how Google’s use of Chinese names for South China Sea features will adversely affect the country’s case against China before a United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

“There’s no connection,” he said.

The resource-rich waters is home to a chain of more than 100 islands, shoals, reefs and coral outcrops and straddles one of the world’s most vital sea lanes. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping sea claims.

Competing claims have sparked occasional violence and now regarded as a potential regional flashpoint for armed conflict.

Philippine officials, backed by a team of international law experts, are currently in The Hague to ask the tribunal to assume jurisdiction on the case it filed against China, which questions the legality of its massive claim. -NB, GMA News