A thousand copies of a geography textbook which was said to have incorrectly depicted China’s borders have been seized by China Customs before they were exported to Hong Kong.
The Chinese authority said on its official WeChat account on Friday that the publications were seized at the Huanggang checkpoint, which is on the border of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, after customs personnel found the books inaccurately showed China’s boundaries.
According to the authority, the maps shown in the textbook did not accurately draw the borders near the Aksai Chin area, those near the South Tibet area, and did not include the Diaoyu Islands, including Chiwei Yu, islands in the South China Sea, and a U-shaped boundary line which consist of 10 dashes showing waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea.
Both Aksai Chin and South Tibet lie on China’s border with India, and are also claimed by New Delhi, while the disputed Diaoyu Islands are claimed by Taiwan and controlled by Japan, where they are known as the Senkaku Islands. Additionally, Beijing’s claims to much of the economically important South China Sea are also subject to competing claims from neighbouring countries and have been rued to have no legal basis by an international court.
China Customs said the books “are suspected of endangering China’s national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
It added: “Maps are the primary representation of a country’s territorial boundaries, reflecting the scope of national sovereignty… Any printed materials and publications that do not comply with China’s regulations on the content of publicly available maps are strictly prohibited from entering or leaving the country.”
The statement also published the map from the textbook, highlighting the areas that were said to inaccurately depict China’s borders.
Ming Pao reported that the textbook was titled HKDSE Exam Series Getting 5** in 9 Weeks: Geography, which was first published in 2018 by the Hong Kong Educational Publishing Company.
The textbook was not on the Education Bureau’s recommended textbook list and therefore had not been assessed by the authority.
In response to HKFP, the bureau said it had asked all local schools to get the Chinese standard map from the Chinese government website if they need to produce maps for teaching purposes.
“If schools find that teaching resources involve serious crimes, unethical conduct, have the potential to be illegal, or contain information and content that pose risks to or are detrimental to national security, they should immediately remove or cease using them,” the authority said in a Chinese written response.
It added that publishers should “continuously review national maps and related text” in textbooks and should immediately revise them if the information was not up to date.
HKFP has also reached out to the publisher for comment.
Updated Chinese standard Map
In March, China Customs tore a page from a Hong Kong history textbook being carried by a student as they exited Hong Kong, saying the page contained a map inaccurately showing Chinese borders, HK01 reported.
The map in the history book was said to have presented Diaoyu Dao as Diaoyu Tai, a name used by Taiwanese authorities, and had not includes the U-shaped 10-dash line.
Citing the publisher, HK01 reported that the book had been printed before Chinese authorities updated the Chinese Standard Map in August 2023, and therefore it had not had enough time to revise the textbook, get it reviewed by the Education Bureau and reprint it.
