'Endanger Territorial Integrity': China Seizes 60,000 'Problematic' Maps Over Taiwan Depiction

Last Updated:October 15, 2025, 18:44 IST

China seized 60,000 maps for mislabelling Taiwan and omitting South China Sea islands.

According to China Customs, the seized maps failed to include the nine-dash line.

China seized 60,000 maps that “mislabelled" Taiwan and “omitted important islands" in the South China Sea, regions that Beijing claims as part of its sovereign territory. Authorities said the “problematic" maps, intended for export, could not be sold because they “endanger national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity."

According to China Customs, the seized maps failed to include the nine-dash line- a series of demarcations Beijing uses to assert its claim over nearly the entire South China Sea. The line, composed of nine short dashes, extends hundreds of miles south and east from China’s southernmost province Hainan.

The maps also did not depict the maritime boundary between China and Japan, officials said as per the BBC. Beijing said that the maps mislabelled “Taiwan province" though it did not specify the exact nature of the mislabelling.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan, however, maintains its own democratic government, constitution and military and sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland.

Disputed representations of borders and territories are highly sensitive in China, particularly concerning the South China Sea- where Beijing’s sweeping claims overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. This comes as tensions in the region escalated again when a Chinese vessel was accused of ramming and firing water cannons at a Philippine government ship, an allegation Beijing denied, saying the Philippine vessel had “dangerously approached" its own.

Customs officials said that goods containing inaccurate depictions of Chinese territory are routinely seized and destroyed. However, the Shandong seizure of 60,000 maps marks one of the largest such confiscations in recent years. Earlier this year, customs officers in Qingdao confiscated 143 nautical charts with “obvious errors" in national borders, while in Hebei province, officials seized two maps containing a “misdrawing" of the Tibetan border.

News world 'Endanger Territorial Integrity': China Seizes 60,000 'Problematic' Maps Over Taiwan Depiction

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