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China: why doesn't Israel's name appear on Alibaba or Baidu maps?

According to several Internet users, both companies show the names of the main Israeli cities but omit the official name of the country.

Captura de pantalla del mapa que muestra Baidu, la empresa de China que eliminó el nombre de Israel de sus mapas.

(Baidu Map)

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

The maps utilized by Chinese companies Alibaba and Baidu do not contain the name Israel. According to several Internet users, both companies show the names of the main Israeli cities but omit the official name of the country:

After this, several media outlets began to investigate and the Wall Street Journal confirmed the news. According to the media's China bureau chief, Jonathan Cheng, this is "an ambiguity that coincides with Beijing's vague diplomacy and contrasts with its general attentiveness to maps":

This event occurs amid a rise in anti-Semitism in China. According to The New York Times, this feeling is growing and the Chinese Government itself promotes it by not condemning Hamas attacks:

But even as China seeks to turn down the temperature diplomatically, a surge of antisemitism and anti-Israeli sentiment is proliferating across the Chinese internet and state media, undermining Beijing’s efforts to convey impartiality. China has already come under pressure from the United States and Israel for its refusal to condemn Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack that started the war.
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