Well, the battle for the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands just got a little more annoying. China’s official Xinhua news agency is reporting that “Chinese customs officials have been told to strengthen inspections of mobile devices with Internet-based maps and to seize items using illegal maps.”
If you’re wondering whether your phone has any illegal maps, you can check to see whether your maps have any disputed territories (like the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, the Paracel islands, etc.) that aren’t labeled as being a part of China. If they do, congratulations! Your maps are illegal. Chinese customs agents would like to confiscate your phone and send it to the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation for “further investigation.” Seriously.
The news report (which we picked up via @niubi) doesn’t make it explicit, but the reason for this is the ongoing spat with Japan over an uninhabited island chain (called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese) that may be a valuable source of oil. The announcement is China’s latest sabre-rattling reminder that it won’t tolerate anyone (or any internet maps) suggesting that the islands don’t belong to China.
If you’re worried for your phone’s safety at Chinese customs, though, I wouldn’t be. Practically speaking, it would take forever for customs officials to stop everyone at the border and search through all the maps available on their phones, computers, tablets, and whatever other internet-friendly devices they have. Moreover, confiscating people’s phones just because they can access some maps on the internet that China doesn’t like would be ridiculous, and although the Chinese government does have a pretty tin ear when it comes to how its actions are received internationally, I have got to believe they know well enough that China Steals Tourists’ Phones is not a headline they want to see. I could be wrong — don’t blame me if your phone really does get confiscated — but I expect this is one of those all-bark-and-no-bite situations.
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