There is no way to overcome this problem in MapPoint. We ran into the same problem for international maps. We ended up using a second product called AccuGlobe. It is a free desktop GIS and can be downloaded at www.ddti.net. It supports .SHP and TAB files.

It works great for basic mapping. It actually has more GIS capabilities then MapPoint but don't expect it to do the advanced stuff like geocoding and routing with your maps. It will also take some time to do things we take for granted (and complain about) such as map display. You can customize the display however you want, no problem turning features or labels on/off, but you have to spend some time setting up the display. Same way you do in ArcView or MapInfo.