After the Philippines wins the arbitration case filed in United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea against People's Republic of China (PRC).
It was labelled the shoal before as part of China’s Zhongsha island chain and having an online campaign which demanded the Internet giant to stop identifying it as part of Chinese territory but to be part of the Philippines.
“We’ve updated Google Maps to fix the issue. We understand that geographic names can raise deep emotions which is why we worked quickly once this was brought to our attention,” Google’s office in Manila said in a statement.
Scarborough Shoal is just 220 kilometers or 140 miles away from the main Philippine island of Luzon yet it's 650 kilometers away from the nearest territory under China which is Hainan island.
When Change.org, a campaigns website began its petition over last week to get the attention of Google Maps to eradicate the Chinese name of the shoal on its site, were the petition got a close of 2,000 supporters agreeing with it.
According to the petition,“China’s sweeping claim of the South China Sea under their nine-dash line purportedly historical boundary is illegal and is creating tension among nations".
"Google maps showing this is part of Zhongsha island chain gives credence to what is plainly a territory grab that peace loving nations should stand against.”
Former Justice Secretary Leila De Lima told ABS-CBN on Tuesday, “We are doing this as a peaceful means to resolve the dispute. We can’t fight China economically, militarily and even politically. This is the way to do it".
Source: Inquirer