http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080506/wl_asia_afp/chinausinternetcensorshipmapsgoogle_080506053619
China has launched an investigation into online mapping services by Internet giants including Google and Sohu in an effort to protect state secrets and territorial integrity, state press said.
According to Min Yiren, vice head of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, authorities hope to get rid of online maps that wrongly depict China's borders or that reveal military secrets, the People's Daily said Monday.
The government began the investigation into the problematic maps in April and will continue it until the end of the year, the report said.
Min cited five areas of concern, with the redrawing of China's borders and placing disputed territory outside the nation the top priority, it said.
Such areas of dispute include Taiwan, the Spratlys and Paracels island chains in the South China Sea and the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, it said.
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