American fined for illegal mapping in Xinjiang

An American citizen was fined for illegal mapping in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Xinjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping said on Monday.

The American was ordered to halt the illegal mapping and fined 20,000 yuan, and his two GPS receivers were confiscated. The Xinjiang Bureau of Surveying and Mapping took the action on Jan 31, in accordance with China's surveying and mapping law.

Last August, the bureau received reports that an American was using a hand-held GPS receiver to collect geographic data around a military station in Manas county, Changji Hui autonomous prefecture.

The investigation results showed that the American citizen, who was planning to run a travel agency to serve foreign tourists in Xinjiang, had collected and stored over 90,000 geographic coordinates using his GPS receivers in China, and that his activities in Xinjiang were not approved by China's National Administration Bureau of Surveying and Mapping in advance.