China Hears About Map from 7-Eleven Convenience Store, Issues Punishment
China warned and fined the operators of 7-Eleven convenience stores in Beijing after learning that a map on the chain’s website makes Taiwan a separate nation.
Beijing’s municipal government issued a fine of 150,000 yuan ($23,500) in December, according to Nikkei Asia.
The “errors” committed by the company included the “wrongful act of assigning Taiwan province as an independent country,” according to The Guardian.
The map also had what Chinese authorities considered the wrong borders for the Xinjiang and Tibet regions and did not use China’s names for islands in the South China Sea, ownership of which is disputed.
Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese company that was warned and fined, accepted its penalties without a fight.
Either China is so very insecure or dedicated to expansionist designs with a treat of implied brutality. With such expansion come responsibility. The citizens will suffer from their leader’s arrogance:
Beijing fines 7-Eleven for calling Taiwan a country https://t.co/bwNPgMuZuO
— Stephen pike (@Spike9151) January 7, 2022
“This incident is true, and we sincerely accept” the penalties, a company spokesman said, according to Nikkei Asia. “We will do our best to prevent a recurrence.”
In publicizing the incident, China’s state-run Global Times said the map was “incorrect and incomplete.”
“I would like to reiterate that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory and the one-China principle is a universally recognized norm in international relations and the consensus of the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
China has shown intense sensitivity to maps that show Taiwan, the island to which the Nationalist government fled in 1949 after losing the war for the mainland, as a separate nation.
Taiwan is a country, whatever China may say. Beijing fines 7-Eleven for calling Taiwan a country https://t.co/9j04SMOinU
— Richard Scrase (@rscrase) January 7, 2022
Last year, China stomped its foot in a fit of diplomatic pique after NBC did not include Taiwan in its map of the communist nation as part of the network’s Olympic coverage. Since then, the National Football League has included Taiwan as part of China in its map of countries where the NFL is marketing itself abroad.
To appease China, the Biden White House last month cut a Taiwanese official’s video feed because it showed China and Taiwan as separate colors on a map, according to Fox News.
China insists that Taiwan is rightfully its, and has stepped up bellicose talk to support that claim as well as increasing military exercises around Taiwan.
Taiwan’s military held urban and aerial-combat drills on January 6 as incursions and sabre-rattling by mainland China continue. pic.twitter.com/fTxM57Kftr
— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) January 7, 2022
Earlier this week, Taiwanese air force jets participated in a drill simulating an attack as part of its preparations for a possible invasion from China, according to Reuters.
The Texas-based 7-Eleven chain has more than 71,000 stores around the world, according to its website.
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