Who makes 'distortion' information about Vietnamese territory borders?

'If we promote good data about the territory of Vietnam's territory on good publications on map information, people will understand us better, accept our views more easily. . That is the power of information, the important thing we must do. The other problem is that we need to do it right away and do it well. '

GS. TSKH. Dang Hung Vo, Nguyen Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment voiced after many cases of foreign online maps wrongly reflect the territory of Vietnam.

Blame yourself, before blaming map publications of the international map community!

In March 2010, some Vietnamese media disgruntled the online map of Google Maps describing the deviation of the Vietnam-China land border. There are places where China's borders encroach on Vietnam, and there are also parts of Vietnam's border encroaching on China. In general, the disadvantage belongs to Vietnam more . The question is why are there such deviations?

First of all, it must be affirmed that, Google is an information business business, operating for the benefit of providing information to everyone. They certainly have no political intentions. Their errors on the border line are due to their lack of information . They did not have access to official map data attached to the Agreement between the two States on the delimitation of the border between Vietnam and China on land. Maybe, they had to take data from some unorthodox old sources. After having official and informal reactions from Vietnam, they revised their online map data.

The fact that they do not have easy access to official sources of information on the land border between Vietnam and China should first blame ourselves. An official data that the international community has not been able to access is our way, because we cannot promote this information on the global information network.

If the state management agency on our map (Vietnam Department of Surveying and Mapping under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) actively looks at the scope of activities and professional associations on the map (Surveying Association) , Vietnam map and remote sensing, Vietnam Geographic Society, etc.) have more funds to expand international activities on careers, the Vietnamese map community promotes map information and geographical information. I am more generous, then surely the map information in the world has no such regretful errors.

Prof. Dang Hung Vo.Photo: N. Yen

A similar story, the National Geographic Society (NGS) has published many online world maps on its website with incorrect information about the Paracel Islands, not telling ensure the interests of Vietnam.

Specifically, in some maps, NGS notes that the Hoang Sa archipelago is Xisha Qundao (West Sa archipelago) according to the place that China places and attached the word ' China ' (China) directly below.

In some other maps, NGS recorded Paracel Is. In the Paracel Islands, according to internationally recognized places, the letter " China " is also attached below. Of course, in front of a disputed territory, the map maker has many customary ways of writing, which can be really neutral, which may be biased towards current occupation, which may favor historical evidence.

How the international mapping community is completely dependent on the effectiveness of international cooperation on the map profession through information exchange and promotion of our map information.

The American Geographic Society announced that it would quickly correct the wrong annotation of the Paracel Islands. Photos taken from the US Geographic Association website at 9am on March 26, 2010 (ie 22h30 on March 25, 2010, Washington DC, USA time)

The wrong comment about the Paracel Islands. Photos taken from the US Geographic Association website at 9am on the morning
March 26, 2010 (ie 22:30 on March 25, 2010, Washington DC time, USA)

NGS is an association, whose goal is to promote geographical knowledge to everyone through a variety of ways such as books, magazines, electronic information, television . Objectives Their is the best response to information for users.

They also base on the collected data to show on the map. They do not have the most accurate data on our territorial sovereignty because we do not promote, they have to use old data. We have widely promoted our official map information on good publications, so there is no reason for them not to use it.

Google or NGS are reputable geographic information providers in the world, their publications are favored and used by most people. Active cooperation with such large information firms will be useful for promoting our right map information, the very power of information that will protect our rights.

The other problem is whether we do what we need to do right away to advertise their map information and how to do it in the most timely and effective way.

China promotes online map information, why is Vietnam not?

In the last few years, the China Map Bureau has set up a website to promote map information, which clearly shows the Chinese State's view of China's territory, including the region. Our East Sea. This is a very formal, thorough and well-built map system that achieves high technical standards for online maps. A normal Vietnamese can also ask, why don't we do that? And you can ask questions more boldly than why don't we do it first? Because the territory of Vietnam is smaller, it requires less effort and less cost.

In fact, reported on this issue, the Government directed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to build the earliest website to promote map information of our country. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has assigned this task to the Department of Surveying and Mapping, the state management agency on measurement and mapping, the earliest implementation.

As mentioned above, the state management agency on measurement and mapping needs to pay more attention to the task of promoting the country's official map information to the international community by means of information transmission. Different, including online maps on the Internet. If you want people around the world to understand more about you, you have to disclose the official information about yourself. This is the best " open heart " way in the current globalization period.

The map industry of our country has got the latest data, has enough high-quality human resources, has enough high technology so that within a few months, we can provide an online map system full of information and accessible. In fact, our national measurement and mapping managers are still struggling with the management thinking of the subsidy period, following some approved projects, distributing funds from the state budget. , reviewing the display of borders on maps, product acceptance, and storage in warehouses .

Perhaps this is the main reason why we do not have the full online map system of Vietnam, making the information on our national borders on land as well as on the sea be " distorted " on Map publications of the international map community.

Promoting map information on " eye-catching " publications is a very important task in the current information era. This promotion can be by the official diplomatic route of the State and also by the way of people's diplomacy through non-governmental organizations or businesses or scientific and training agencies. The world map community will be very welcome and very supportive when each country publicly publishes its official map information. True information about territorial boundaries has great persuasion, step by step deeply ingrained in people's subconscious.

The power established by force has gradually passed along with history. The world is going through a period of power done by capitalism. In the current information age, power is established by knowledge associated with information.

Promoting information in the map language is a way to convey information very effectively, without reading much, but easy to remember. Anyone who promotes a lot of information will pull human knowledge towards them. This is what Vietnam must do urgently because of a long-term vision to protect national territorial sovereignty.

GS. TSKH. Dang Hung Vo