Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Vietnam is Censoring Politically Sensitive Maps. It's Not Finished and Not
Alone

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI - The dramatic demise in Vietnam of two maps that show China's
   claim to a disputed tract of sea herald a longer-term effort at
   expunging material that officials find politically offensive -- and not
   just in Vietnam.

   Both maps, one in a luxury Volkswagen car and the other in a DreamWorks
   film, show the nine-dash line that Beijing uses to demarcate its claims
   in the South China Sea. Vietnamese officials contest the line and say
   some of the waters within it are theirs. The two countries have sparred
   since the 1970s over maritime sovereignty.

   Vietnam will probably keep censoring material that implies Chinese
   sovereignty over the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, Asia scholars
   say. They would effectively follow China's continued use of
   authoritarian rule to ban websites and publications that violate its
   stances on international issues.

   "I think this is but the latest series of essentially what I would call
   posturing," said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow with the Singapore Institute
   of International Affairs. "You have to keep on emphasizing your
   sovereignty over a certain part, because if you don't, then the
   international community will think that you are giving up."

.