Wall Street Journal: China removes Israel form its electronic maps
The Wall Street Journal said that Internet users in China expressed their bewilderment that the name Israel didn’t appear on the leading online digital maps from Baidu and Alibaba.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Baidu maps in Chinese on the Internet draw borders in the Palestinian territories in 1948, in addition to the main cities, but they do not clearly specify the name.
The same applies to online maps produced by Alibaba, where even small countries like Luxembourg are clearly marked.
Neither company responded to questions on Monday, and it is unclear whether this development is new, although it has been discussed by Chinese citizens since the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7.
The Wall Street Journal reported that hostility to Israel in China is increasing as Beijing strengthens its pro-Palestinian position during the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
In recent days, searches and mentions containing anti-Israel expressions have increased significantly on the Chinese application WeChat.
According to the Wall Street Journal, many of the attacks on social media targeting Israelis were motivated by videos of Palestinian child victims and other crimes committed by Israel.
Beijing expressed “China’s deep sympathy for the Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, because of their current difficult situation,” and called for convening a stronger, broader, and more effective international peace conference as soon as possible, to support the resumption of peace talks.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “What the Gaza Strip needs most is efforts to stop the war and promote peace, not geopolitical calculations, and security, food, and medicine, not war, weapons, and ammunition”.
In a related context, Politico newspaper said, “China, it seems, has decided that the path to a greater global presence passes through Palestine,” regardless of the blows it will receive from the West, due to what Politico described as leniency with Hamas.
