Singaporean travel TV show plasters Taiwan flag over outline of mainland China

The media group which oversees the channel has issued an apology to the Chinese embassy and Taiwan representative office

Singapore’s main Chinese language TV channel got itself into a bit of trouble this week for a graphic which appeared to imply that Taiwan had taken over control of mainland China.

The politically-sensitive gaffe was noticed by viewers during a trailer promoting the travel show “My Star Guide” (我的导游是明星). In the background of the trailer, an outline of China and Taiwan can be seen filled in with Republic of China flag.

Mediacorp, the media group that oversees Channel 8, said that it had issued an apology to both the Chinese embassy and the Taiwan representative office in Singapore over the incident.

“This was a mistake that occurred during the production of graphics used in the trailer,” the company told Mothership. The clip has since been removed from the interwebs.

It’s not clear if anyone has been or will be fired for the mistake, though it does seem like possibility.

The faux pas comes as more and more international companies are reevaluating how they refer to Taiwan, afraid of being accused of challenging China’s sovereignty and hurting the feelings of millions of Chinese customers.

Most recently, major German companies like Lufthansa, Mercedes-Benz, and Bosch have all changed the name of Taiwan on their websites to “Taiwan, China,” following similar moves this year from global brands like Marriott, Delta, and Zara.

[Images via Mothership]