The National Geographic Society (NGS) has acknowledged that denoting Hoang Sa Archipelago with a Chinese name and the word “China” without further explanation can be misleading or misinterpreted.
The NGS issued a press release after complaints were made about a recent map on its website https://www.natgeomaps.com, with the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago of Vietnam designated with the Chinese name “Xisha Qundao” along with the word “China” in its description, and after Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga on March 13 claimed that “the world map denoting “Paracel Is. China” published by the NGS is wrong” and requested that the society correct this mistake.
The NGS said that in its regional and other maps of sufficient scale, it specifically recognizes and designates the alternative Vietnamese name “Hoang Sa” and the traditional name “Paracel Islands” for the archipelago.
In the future it would either provide additional explanation that was included on its other maps, or omit any designation, said the NGS.
* The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is asking Google to correct errors in its Google Maps service that misrepresent the Vietnam-China border.
“Vietnam requests that Google correct this mistake according to the current official map of Vietnam,” Foreign Ministry spokes-woman Nguyen Phuong Nga told reporters on March 20.
Vietnam and China signed a protocol on border demarcation and landmark placement, an agreement on land border management and an agreement on border gates on November 18, 2009, she said, adding that once these documents had been officially ratified, the Vietnam-China border would be formally recognized by both sides.-