In accordance with the new regulations of the Vietnamese government, companies with Chinese investors submitting a dossier to update passport information on the Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) must bring the original hard copy of the investor’s passport to the HCMC DPI, along with a notarized copy of all pages, to verify that the passport does not contain the “cow’s tongue line” map.
The “cow’s tongue line” is a term used to refer to the nine-dash line, a U-shaped line that appears on some Chinese passports, which is to claim sovereignty over an area of the sea. However, the cow’s tongue line is not recognized by Vietnam government.
The DPI is responsible for approving foreign investment projects in Ho Chi Minh City. This requirement is part of the DPI’s due diligence process to ensure that Chinese investors are not bringing in passports that contain maps of the South China Sea that are disputed by Vietnam.