We told you how China has been taking over map production.
Pushing false territorial claims over India,
Taiwan, and the South China Sea...
and forcing the rest of the world to accept them.
But it turns out, the problem is much worse than we thought.
Welcome back to China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
Viewers have sent in the proof, and it’ll blow your mind.
Chinese maps have infiltrated the rest of the world.
Like a virus.
On January 29, we published an episode called
“How China is Secretly Changing Everyone’s Maps.”
I talked about how every company
that prints maps and globes inside China
is forced to adhere to the Chinese government’s official map designs.
That means they have to include Taiwan,
a disputed area controlled by India,
and the so-called Nine-Dash Line
that encompaseses the entire South China Sea...
all as a part of the People’s Republic of China.
And as some viewers have pointed out,
the Nine-Dash Line actually has TEN dashes on a lot of maps now.
They added the extra one in case Taiwan tries to escape.
Nope!
If you don’t remember the map of China
looking like this when you were a kid...
that’s because it didn’t.
Other countries—like the US—
do not recognize some of China’s more outrageous territorial claims.
These ones.
But the Chinese regime is trying to change that.
They want to change how average people in other countries
perceive China’s borders.
A lot of maps and globes these days are made in Chinese factories.
And the Communist Party is using these factories
to change the designs of maps and globes exported around the world,
with the hope that everyone will just get used to
the Chinese regime’s official version,
and eventually accept it.
The US and other Western countries have freedom of the press,
so there are no restrictions on what maps can show.
And the Chinese regime is taking advantage of our freedom of the press—
and our insistence on having all our cheap stuff made in China.
Chinese state-run media acknowledge their plan explicitly.
Their goal is to “make the [Chinese] government’s position on territory
clear to the international community.”
This is what I call “map warfare”.
The Chinese Communist Party’s goal is to expand their territory
not by firing bullets,
but by controlling the world’s digital and printed maps.
And it’s working.
I know it’s working, because I had asked you guys—
our amazing viewers—
to send us photos if you saw China’s version of the map in your country.
And the rabbit hole went much deeper than I imagined.
I’m going to show you just a few of the ones viewers sent in.
Here’s a globe a viewer found in France.
Chic!
And wrong.
Here’s a globe found by a viewer in the Netherlands.
What were they smoking?
This is a globe sold in Canada, made by Oregon Scientific.
It teaches Canadian children the “correct” worldview.
Here’s another one for kids, sold on Amazon.com.
It’s for ages 8-plus.
It’s “detailed and educational.”
That’s great!
I mean, it’s practically correct!
Except for a few glaring inaccuracies when it comes to China.
Then there’s the “Discovery Kids Mindblown Globe
2-in-1 Day and Night Earth”.
Hmmm... that’s kind of hard to see.
Well, Discovery is a media company,
so I wonder if they have some sort of promotional video online.
“We put a new spin on a classic globe,
to create an educational centerpiece for any room.
Clearly marked countries, cities, bodies of water.”
Wait, slow down:
Is Taiwan the same color as China?
OK, it’s hard to tell from the promo video, too.
So I bought one from Target in New Jersey.
Let’s see.
Yep!
Taiwan is labeled as a province of China.
And here’s the Nine-Dash Line.
It also appears to claim that part of India, Arunachal Pradesh.
“Mind.
Blown.”
I wonder where this globe was manufactured...
What a surprise.
But ok, a bunch of globes made in China and sold around the world
have China’s version of the map.
What’s the big deal?
Well, this Discovery globe is specifically made for “Hands-on Learning”.
This is a product *designed* to teach children
about “countries, cities, and bodies of water.”
And what are American children learning?
Chinese propaganda, produced by the Discovery Network,
and conveniently delivered by unsuspecting parents.
Or Santa Claus.
He outsourced to China.
By the way,
we reached out to “Discovery Mindblown” for comment.
They did not answer any of our questions.
This changing-of-the-maps has been happening gradually,
mostly since 2017.
And it falls precisely in line
with the Chinese government’s goal of pushing its territorial claims
in the international community.
And if you think the infiltration of children’s globes is bad,
well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
China’s map warfare is all over the place.
Let’s say you want a VPN to protect your identity.
This advertisement from ExpressVPN makes me think
they don’t realize you can *already* access Google,
Facebook, and Twitter from Taiwan,
which is a SEPARATE COUNTRY.
Yeah, if you want a reliable VPN,
I’d suggest you go with Surfshark.
Surfshark has sponsored a bunch of our episodes
about Chinese Communist Party infiltration,
so they know what’s up.
Now, ExpressVPN may have hired a marketing company
to make that unfortunate ad,
and it was probably a mistake.
But here’s what’s not a mistake:
This screenshot of Apple Maps that a viewer from the UK sent us.
He bought his iPhone in the UK, and Apple Maps looked normal.
But when he traveled to China on vacation,
his Apple Maps suddenly changed,
by adding China’s Nine-Dash Line and Taiwan.
We reached out to Apple for comment.
They did not respond.
Here’s another example, even worse:
An Indian viewer sent us these screenshots
from the Google Maps app on his mobile phone.
But he didn’t visit China.
These are screenshots he took while he was in India.
It shows China’s Nine-Dash Line, Taiwan, and craziest of all—
it legitimizes China’s claims on Arunachal Pradesh,
that part of India that’s administered by the Indian Government!
This is a map people *in India* are seeing!
You’d think this would upset the Indian government.
But our viewer emailed us that
he reported it to the Indian authorities,
and they replied that their Google devices
are showing the correct map,
so they can’t take action against it.
“I don't understand why Google—
a company banned in China—
are using Chinese maps.”
Oh, I can understand why.
Google, by the way,
also did not respond to our requests for comment.
And even when Chinese map *production* hasn’t been infiltrated,
some printed maps have.
One viewer sent us photos of a book he bought in China:
The English language edition of Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Someone from the Chinese government
had literally gone into each physical book
and added a stamp, saying that the maps,
which show Taiwan as a separate country,
are a violation of the One-China Principle.
So those are just a few examples of what
China Uncensored viewers have discovered.
Why does this matter?
Well, China’s version of the world map legitimizes its claims
over territory that it has no legal right to.
An international tribunal confirmed this.
If the Chinese Communist Party is able to succeed
in its “map warfare,”
it directly affects the rest of the world.
For example, their pressure over the Taiwan issue
prevents people in Taiwan from being
a full part of the international community.
That’s why, as the deadly coronavirus spreads,
China has been able to block the World Health Organization
from working with Taiwan.
The Chinese regime is happy to risk the lives
of 23 million Taiwanese people
just to assert their territorial politics.
China’s claims also affect countries around the South China Sea—
like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
For centuries, their people have relied on fishing
in the South China Sea.
Now China’s claims threaten their access.
A few years ago, we hired a Filipino fishing boat
to take us to disputed waters in the South China Sea
and made an episode about it for China Uncensored.
The fishermen told us they’d been fishing
at the Scarborough Shoal for generations.
But when we got there,
the place was surrounded by the Chinese Coast Guard,
and they wouldn’t let Filipino boats into the Shoal,
where the best fishing is.
Because the Chinese regime decided it was *their* territory now.
And remember back in the early to mid 20th Century,
when world maps showed Tibet as a separate country?
Well, in 1949,
the Chinese Communist Party claimed Tibet was part of China.
By 1951, they had forced Tibet to accept their rule.
And within a few years,
Western countries simply accepted that the territory
is now part of the People’s Republic of China.
So we should take their territorial claims seriously.
If we don’t stand up to China’s “map warfare” now,
it will only get harder to deal with later.
Especially once the next generation grows up
playing with propaganda globes sold by the Discovery Network.
So what’s the solution?
Don’t let your kids learn geography.
Wait, what’s that Shelley?
Yes, that is a better idea.
Ok, I just had a better idea.
Tell your elected representatives to actually DO something
to stop China’s “map warfare.”
We’ve created this petition on Change.org.
It calls on Congress to enact legislation blocking
the import of maps and globes made in China.
If American companies stop selling globes and maps made in China,
then the Chinese government has no power over our maps—
and no power to undermine our freedom of the press.
So click the link below and sign the petition,
and then share the petition with everyone you know on social media.
And if you see more examples of China’s “map warfare,”
keep sending them to us.
Especially if you see them being used in schools.
Once again, I’m Chris Chappell.
Thanks for joining me.