Manila says Google’s ‘West Philippine Sea’ label shows global support for its stance

A senator says the move by Google Maps proves the correctness of Manila’s policy to defend its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea

Reading Time:4 minutes

A Google Earth map shows the western part of the Philippines as the “West Philippine Sea”. Photo: Jeoffrey Maitem

Published: 3:24pm, 15 Apr 2025Updated: 4:04pm, 15 Apr 2025

A move by US technology giant Google to label a part of the South China Sea as the “West Philippine Sea” has been hailed by Filipino officials as a sign of growing global recognition of Manila’s sovereignty in the disputed waters amid its long-standing row with Beijing.

The update in Google Maps marking the waters that the Philippines considers within its exclusive economic zone, however, has also drawn some scepticism about the extent of international support for Manila’s position.

Previously, the label “West Philippine Sea” only appeared in searches in the Google Earth app. With the change in Google Maps, users can also find this name when they scan the South China Sea in the app, with the disputed waters visible to the north and west of the West Philippine Sea.

Checks by This Week in Asia found that the newly demarcated area was near the contested Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines.

Philippine senator Francis Tolentino on Monday described the label on Google Maps as a sign of Manila’s jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea.

“[This] represents a victory for all Filipinos. It is also an affirmation of the correctness of the Philippines’ current policy to assert its sovereign rights in line with international law and multilateralism,” Tolentino said in a statement.