Google has corrected the map it had posted on the Net of the borderline between Viet Nam and China after a complaint by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Department of Survey and Mapping.

The department said the depiction posted on Google Maps incorrectly attributed thousands of square kilometres of Vietnamese territory to China.

It placed the borderline from Dien Bien province to Mong Cai city in Quang Ninh province in the wrong place and a number of border gates, such as the ones at Tan Thanh and Thanh Thuy, in Chinese territory.

However, Dang Thai Son, an official from the ministry's Borderline Centre, said errors still remained in Google's map.

"The borderline between the two countries in Lao Cai province is basically correct but other parts along the northern borderline have yet to be fixed," Son said.

He said he hoped that the internet search corporation would promptly correct its map of the region.

Vietnam and China signed a protocol on border demarcation and landmark planting on November 18, 2009, which officiallly came into effect on July 14 this year and was submitted to the United Nations.

The Vietnam-China border is 1,449.566-km-long and has 1,971 officially recognised landmarks.

Dang Hung Vo, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing, said it was vitally important for Vietnam to ensure that information relating to its borderline was correctly represented to avoid future territorial disputes./.