New Delhi, Oct. 26: Google Earth admitted its mistake and promised a correction a day after The Telegraph reported that the website shows Arunachal Pradesh as Chinese territory.

“Google Earth’s most recent data update includes an error, in that it includes a line for an international border within the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,” a spokesperson said.

On zooming out, the state is portrayed as an independent country, separated by yellow international borders from India, China and Bhutan. On zooming in, the state’s Chinese border turns red, meaning it’s not an international border. The obvious implication is that Arunachal is Chinese territory being claimed by India.

“The border has been correctly represented for several years until the latest data update. The error will be fixed shortly. We thank the Google Earth user community for pointing it out to us and we apologise for any confusion or annoyance,” the spokesperson said.

A year ago, there was no red border and the state was shown as a separate nation. Till a few weeks ago, the Tirap and Changlang districts were correctly shown as part of the state. The map now shows the two districts in Assam. China claims the whole of Arunachal except the two districts, so the depiction is in keeping with Beijing’s position.

Some believe China will not rest easy. “Obviously, the Chinese would like to see their map accepted,” said China watcher Manoranjan Mohanty.